The head coach of Rivne’s Veres, Oleg Shandrukh, commented on his team’s 10-match unbeaten streak and touched upon the topic of the final match of the year against Kyiv’s Dynamo in the 17th round of the Ukrainian Championship.
— Oleg Mykolayovych, at the beginning of the season, could you imagine that Veres would be in the upper half of the table after the first round?
— In fact, before the beginning of the season, we didn’t look that far ahead. We had a clear task set for us — to avoid relegation matches. It is pleasant to be where we are now, but we also see that there is a high density in the table right now. Even one round can change the standings. We move forward.
— What contributed to the transformation of Veres from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan?
— I would say this: diligent work, training process. Here we have a clear vision that the way the team trains is how it plays. We strive to progress through the training process. I am grateful to the guys for raising the bar of professionalism. All trainings are held at 100% in terms of dedication, as concentrated as possible.
— Veres has achieved five comeback results in five matches this season — two victories and three draws when you conceded first. Progress in this indicator?
— I cannot recall specific figures, but in spring we also had several comebacks, draws, when we were behind (one victory and three draws of this type in the spring part of the season, — ed. note). If we take our unbeaten streak of ten matches, then in six of them we were losing during the match and learned to earn points.
This is also a significant fact of psychological resilience. It is important to play all 90 minutes. Despite conceding goals, we have learned not to give up.
— Has Veres’ unbeaten streak strengthened the mentality of the team?
— Yes. We have started to focus more on ourselves rather than on the opponent. This is also a step forward in terms of mentality. The experienced players like Stepanюк, Klyots, as well as the veterans of the team Kogut, Honcharenko, Kucherov, Dakhnovskiy play a major role in this.
The coaching staff and the sports director put in a lot of effort, sharing their experience, always being close to the team, keeping their finger on the pulse. We work hard on this. Mentally, we have reached a bit of a different level, but we understand that there is much to work on.
— Half of the distance in the UPL is covered. What is the atmosphere like inside the team?
— It is clear that any streak will come to an end. We must be ready that at some point the team will experience a decline and this is normal. In football, everything can change in an instant.
Knowing my guys, I and my assistants do not see a problem in this. At the beginning of the season, we were in a somewhat similar situation. We did not panic. Many inside the team discussed this topic. We understand where we are. There is restrained optimism present. We try not to look too far ahead and to progress gradually. Right now we have a game with Karpaty and we are focusing on that moment.
— Against the backdrop of results at the start of the season, your positions were shaky. Colleagues reported that you were to be replaced by Yuriy Maksymov. Did you know about this?
— Every coach is aware that at any moment he can be asked to leave. I do not have much coaching experience at the highest level, but I understand a bit about football. What was most important for me was not what was said outside, but what was happening inside. The process is moving, the situation is under control, the players are progressing. There may have been no result, but we had good segments in those games. This added confidence that we were doing everything right and the result would come. We worked monotonously and things started to improve.
— What result do you expect in the final matches of the year with Veres and Dynamo?
— We must be professionals. Not to think about vacation but to respect the fans and the president. To do our job until the end. With the right attitude in preparation, we hope to see quality football from Veres.
Oleksandr Karpenko
