Mykola Pavlov: "Vorskla's chances in the Ukrainian Cup final against Shakhtar are much higher than in 2009".

Famous Ukrainian coach Mykola Pavlov commented on Vorskla's appearance in the final of the Ukrainian Cup.

- I watched yesterday's broadcast of the cup semi-final, I was worried, - Mykola Petrovych starts. - In this match Vorskla looked better, so they won deservedly. Seeing Volodya Chesnakov in the stands of Zhytomyr stadium, after the match I sent him a sms-message, in which I congratulated him on reaching the final and asked him to pass my congratulations to Sergei Dolgansky.

At the end of May, it will be 15 years since Vorskla won the Ukrainian Cup, and now the Poltava team have reached the final again. I believe that the current Shakhtar are no stronger than the one that won the UEFA Cup in 2009, eleven days before the meeting with us. Therefore, Vorskla's chances are much better now than they were then. I hope that Dolganskiy and Chesnakov will tell the guys how they were preparing for the victorious cup final - and everything will be fine.

- Not so long ago the Poltava team was headed by Sergiy Dolganskiy, who defended its gates during your coaching in it. What do you think about his current work?

- I am worried about Sergiy Dolganskiy. He is good. This is proof that you need to trust your young coaches. We entrusted him with the team - and he does everything well. As for the recent match of the championship, in which "Vorskla" lost 1:5 to Kyiv "Dynamo", in my opinion, the score is not according to the game. Although the team from the capital was better, but not so many goals should have been in the gates of Poltava that day. Even Dynamo players said that the score was not up to the game.

- Are you going to attend the final match in Rivne, which is scheduled for 15 May?

- Even earlier, when the UAF Executive Committee decided that the decisive match of the Ukrainian Cup would be held in this city, I thought: "Rivne is not so far from Kyiv. If one of the teams I worked for makes it to the final, I will go there to cheer for them". So if I have time, I might actually go to Rivne for this match.

Vyacheslav Kulchitskiy