Over time, the winter season is replaced by the spring, and corresponding transformations are taking place in football. And at the same time, the Ukrainian Premier League returns to our daily routine with the matches of the second part of the next draw. Last year, the outbreak of a full-scale war deprived us of the opportunity to watch the teams play in the spring, but 365 days have passed, and Ukraine is still standing, and will stand, no matter what anyone predicts. Accordingly, football in our country will not go anywhere.
True, the official program of the championship matches did not begin on the weekend, as usual, but on the first day of the new week, on which the organizers of the competition scheduled the postponed match of the sixth round of the national championship between Oleksandria and Kharkov Metalist 1925. And if at the beginning of October the team of Yuri Gura planned to play in Kiev, but due to another shelling, the meeting did not take place, then this time, under the leadership of the new head coach Ruslan Rotan, representatives of the Kirovohrad region played on their native “Nika”.
The so-called “spring football” made itself felt quite quickly, since puddles of noticeable size gathered in places on the football lawn, and sometimes the players could not keep their balance. However, it was definitely not the peculiarities of the climate that influenced the behavior of the Kharkiv defender Tkachuk at the right flank of his own free kick, when he decided to give the ball to Mustafaev with a pass to the opponent’s feet. The instant transfer to the center of foreign possessions ended with Tretyakov’s shot past the goalkeeper, and this is how the first UPL goal in 2023 was scored.
Oleksandria looked pretty confident against the backdrop of unexpected success, and there was no even a thought that Rotan’s team could soon lose control over the course of events on the field. And so it happened on the 21st minute, when Tkachuk finished with a header from a corner on the left flank from Rusin, breaking into the far corner of the opponent’s goal. “Polygraphs” after a positional error of their own defense tried to again transfer the game to someone else’s half of the field, but immediately received a response counterattack.
Chiruk freely ran from the central circle to the borders of Gorokh’s possessions, after which he played to the right at Bychek, who caught the goalkeeper with a difficult shot into the near corner. Rotan was then a little puzzled by the course of events on the field, like all the fans, because, according to external signs, the game definitely did not go ahead with the visiting team. Immediately after the break, Oleksandriya’s coaching staff made two substitutions, but before Kobzar and Kozhushko had time to hold the ball at their feet, their team was again in trouble.
This time, a clear mistake by the goalkeeper when repelling a shot from the right flank of the free kick under the crossbar performed by Rusin ended with a finishing move from Shershn from the opposite side of the penalty area. After such a shock, one could expect anything from polygraphs, but they still decided to keep their heads cold.
The home team surrounded someone else’s penalty area in positional attacks, and in the end, in one of the episodes, goalkeeper Mozil received an accidental injury, and Sidorenko, who appeared instead of him, as you know, does not play a match this season without two or three goals in his own goal. Actually, that’s exactly what Rotan’s team needed to save this game. Oleksandriya gradually increased the pressure, and when Kalitvintsev and Kovalets joined the game, the quality began to make itself felt.
Mustafaev continued to distribute assists, and his second pass from the right flank of the penalty area on 68 minutes also went under the blow of a touch for Tretyakov. And soon Kozhushko also had a word on the right flank of foreign possessions, when he dropped Kalitvintsev’s serve from the opposite side of the field under attack in the fall for Kobzar. The hosts even tried to win this meeting, but for the first match after a long pause, this would have been too much.
Oleksandriya will play the next match at home against Dnipro-1 Dnipro, and Metalist 1925 Kharkiv will host Shakhtar Donetsk.
Ukrainian Premier League. 6th round.
“Alexandria” – “Metalist 1925” – 3:3
Tretyakov, 7, 68, Kobzar, 81 – Tkachuk, 21, Bychek, 32, Shershen, 47
Chiruk, 30, Vachiberadze, 74, Rusyn, 76, Tkachuk, 90+2
“Alexandria”: Peas – Tsurikov (Kalytvyntsev, 67), Baboglo, Loginov, Myroshnychenko – Rybalka (Kovalets, 67), Mykhaylenko – Shulyansky (Kozhushko, 46), Voloshyn (Kobzar, 46), Mustafaev (Avagimyan, 87) – Tretyakov.
“Metalist 1925”: Mozil (Sydorenko, 56) – Shershen (Dmytrenko, 79), Tkachuk, Bezugly, Zhichikov – Ya. Martynyuk – Remenyuk, Bychek (Kapinus, 65), Vachiberadze (Abdullaev, 80), Rusyn – Chiruk.
Arbitrator: Anastasia Romaniuk (Ivano-Frankivsk).
Stadium: KSK “Nika” (Alexandria).
Shots (on target): 19 (8) – 6 (4)
Corners: 12 – 3
Offside: 2 – 0.
ALEXANDRIA – METALLIST 1925. ONLINE BROADCAST OF THE MATCH
Temperature: 3°C