The result was a Bulgarian victory over the Byzantine Empire, which secured the successes achieved since the beginning of the Rebellion of Asen and Peter in 1185.

After his second campaign in Moesia and the fruitless siege of Lovech in 1187, the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos was forced to conclude a truce, thus de facto recognizing the independence of Bulgaria.

When the soldiers of the Third Crusade reached the Bulgarian lands at Niš, Asen and Peter offered to help the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick I Barbarosa, with a force of 40,000 against the Byzantines.

The Byzantine morale, on the other hand, was quite low for several reasons: the lack of any military success, heavy casualties and particularly the fact that the soldiers' pay was in arrears.

The man told Isaac II that, despite the efforts of the Byzantine navy, an enormous Cuman army had passed the river Danube and was heading towards Tarnovo to relieve the siege.

Isaac II barely escaped; his guards had to cut a path through their soldiers, enabling their commander's flight from the rout.