Outnumbered but not defeated

13-03-10 20:23:39

Ukrainian championship youths. Round 19

6 March. Donetsk. STB Kirsha. Att. 50. +2 C

Shakhtar - Metalist (Kharkiv) – 4:0

Goals: Churko (21, with penalty), Fedotov (69), Nekhtiy, 89, Karavayev (90).

Shakhtar: Tetenko (Bsylevich, 90), Oleynyk, Butko, Ordets, Zhychykov, Grechyshkin, Fedotov (Doroshenko, 69), Churko (Vakulenko, 90), Ilyuk (Ovchinnynokov), 44; Nekhtiy, 63; Lucjabyuk, 90), Nasybulin, Yampol (Karavayev, 46)

Head coach: Valeriy Yaremchenko

Shakhtar players booked: Oleynyk (11), Zhychykov (80).

Shakhtar sending-offs: Oleynyk (27, booked for the second time).  

Referee: Sergiy Dankovskyy (Kyiv)

From the very beginning of the match the hosts were dominating the field. But this was not a storming attack but rather a balanced force-through. The away team’s defense fell in the middle of the first half: on 20 minutes Ilyuk found himself facing the rival’s net after an aerial pass into penalty area, and could not think of anything better than coming into a collision with their forward. The referee pointed to the penalty spot and Churko executed the sentence – 1-0.

The game was going smoothly for Shakhtar but after six minutes it turned bumpy: having been booked for the second time, Oleynyk left the field. Shakhtar’s gameplay had instantaneously turned to defense which was not too well organized. True it is though that the guests did not use this for their advantage. The only attempt at a goal into Tetenko’s net was made during extra time added to the end of the first half – the goalkeeper saved the goal.

After the halftime Shakhtar continued to play in the same way giving most of their attention to defending the goal. But alongside with that the defense was now better organized and active than during the first half: they did not turn to strictly defensive play, and in front of the goal they were constantly trying to keep the tension. This was helped by numerous replacements aimed at ‘refreshing’ the attacking players: Ilyuk was replaced by Ovchynnykov in the first half who was eventually replaced by Nekhtiy.

And this tactics proved to be a success. On 69 minutes the brisk Fedotov sent the ball into the net, taking advantage of the mistake made by Metalist’s defenders and goalkeeper. And by the end of the match Nekhtiy and Karavayev finalized the attacks after successful struggling. It is peculiar that Fedotov and Nekhtiy scored their goals literary with the signal flags being waved: by the time each of them scored their respective subs had been prepared to come on to the pitch.

Sergiy Popov, Shakhtar coach:
 - It goes without saying that Oleynyk let us down having been booked twice by the middle of the first half. After that the guys could not quite understand what to do. During the halftime they were instructed that there was nothing to that and they needed to organize the defense better. And they were busy following these instructions to the best of their ability during the second half, although they still made a lot of tactical mistakes. This all comes down to our still having some issues to work on, irrespective of how the game ended. The result is undoubtedly satisfying, but the quality of the game leaves much to be desired.

FC Shakhtar
Press Office