Former player and then head coach of Odesa’s «Chornomorets» Ihor Nakonechny shared his impressions of the 18th round of the Ukrainian championship.
Ihor Nakonechny— How justified is the outcome of the match in Kovalivka, where «Kolos» had to capitulate in the competition with «Chornomorets» — 1:2?
— I believe that everything is fair. At the very beginning of the match, the teams exchanged goals, and then an interesting battle unfolded on the field. In the second half, «Kolos» had a few chances to take the lead, but they were unable to capitalize on them. And as often happens in football: if you don’t score, they will score on you. That’s exactly what «Chornomorets» did. After a perfect split pass from Kratov, Popov found himself in a striking position and skillfully hit the target. Considering that this goal was scored just a few minutes before the final whistle, «Chornomorets» managed to secure the win. This victory is very important for the «sailors» — primarily in psychological terms.
— Transferring «Kryvbas»’ home match from Kryvyi Rih to Rivne seems to have played a cruel joke on Yuriy Vernydub’s team. Could you have imagined that «Veres» would achieve a convincing victory with a score of 3:0?
— To be honest, I was very surprised by this result. As I understand, the transfer of the match to Rivne was due to weather conditions and the frozen field in Kryvyi Rih. In this game, «Kryvbas» looked very weak for some reason, so the 0:3 result was a complete surprise for me. Perhaps after goalkeeper Makhan'kov made a gross mistake and «Veres» led 1:0, the Kryvyi Rih team got into a «tailspin» and broke psychologically. And after the second goal, this state only intensified — and one could say that the game was settled. Hence the result.
— A similar situation with their field arose with «Inhulets», which played its home match against «Polissia» at the opponent's stadium in Zhytomyr. The conditional «guests» won 1:0, managing to score only after more than an hour of play…
— First of all, it should be noted that the level of mastery at «Polissia» is higher than that of «Inhulets». The team from Zhytomyr is more organized, which cannot be said about their opponent. «Inhulets» has players of a different level, so it's hard for them to earn points. Still, I can say that Vasyl Kobin’s charges prepared for this game and gave «Polissia» a fight. The other side of the coin is that Zhytomyr managed to score, while «Inhulets» couldn’t.
— The victory of the guests, but not nominal, but real was recorded in the match «Rukh» — LNZ. What do you think about this?
— As far as I understand, the new head coach of the Cherkasy team Roman Grigorchuk has improved the organization of play. And although «Rukh» is not weaker than LNZ in terms of their squad, they couldn't use all their players in this match. We know that many players of the Lviv team fell ill before the start of the spring segment of the championship, and the transfer of four leading players — Sych, Fedor, Kvasnytsia, and Krasnopir — to «Karpaty» couldn’t help but affect the quality of play. However, one cannot say that in the match against the Cherkasy team, «Rukh» looked too weak. No. The hosts even had opportunities to score, but they couldn’t convert them. To some extent, LNZ benefited from a quick goal scored in the 3rd minute by Tankovskyi.
— On Sunday in the capital, two matches took place, in which Kyiv teams secured victories: «Obolon» won against «Vorskla» — 1:0, and «Dynamo» against «Karpaty» — 2:0. Were you surprised by any of these results?
— Yes. The victory of «Obolon» surprised me because, at that time, «Vorskla» looked better. Yet the twists and turns of the match even led to dissatisfaction from the coach of the Poltava team, for which the referee showed him a red card. Thanks to this victory, the Kyiv team left the relegation playoff zone, which indicates that the «brewers» still have some powder left in their powder kegs. Regarding the match «Dynamo» — «Karpaty», the Kyiv club appeared more interesting in terms of the individual skill of the players compared to Lviv. This is evidenced by the goals scored. I particularly liked Vanat's goal, who skillfully and elegantly beat the defenders before striking the target.
— «Oleksandriya» continues to stay in the prize zone. Their home match against «Zorya» ended with a willful victory, but there were complaints regarding the refereeing.
— The Oleksandriya team is currently in the position they should be in. The «City dwellers» are now second, breathing down the neck of the Dynamo players — and their aspiration for serious achievements deserves recognition. «Oleksandriya» always looks quite decent at home, and this season the team is generally in good shape. The game against «Zorya» was not the first in which Oleksandriya achieved a willful victory. I remember how at the beginning of the season they managed to win similarly against «Shakhtar» — 4:3, where Pilipenko scored three goals. On Sunday, he reminded everyone again, scoring two goals against «Zorya», turning the game from 0:1 to 2:1. And the fact that there were complaints about the refereeing only once again confirms the fact that in the spring segment of the season, the tension in the battle for every point acquires a special sharpness and emotionality.
— In the concluding match of the round, «Shakhtar» managed to overcome the resistance of «Livyi Bereh», achieving a minimal victory. What would you highlight in this game?
— First of all, I would note that at the beginning of the match, «Livyi Bereh» looked modest, but later moments started to appear for the team from the capital. I didn’t even expect them to act so boldly. We must give credit to Vitaliy Pervak’s charges for their resistance against the champion for over an hour and for slowly accumulating points in their debut season in the Premier League. They have already collected 16. But «Shakhtar» is «Shakhtar». Thanks to their skills, the Donetsk team managed to squeeze out a victory against «Livyi Bereh».
Viacheslav Kulchytskyi
