After the match between “Kudrivka” and “Epitsentr,” which kicked off the program of the 7th round of the Ukrainian championship, there were complaints from the coach of the Podolyans, Serhiy Nagornyak, not only towards his players but also towards the referees. The former FIFA referee Myroslav Stupar assessed the most resonant episodes of this confrontation:
“Nagornyak’s dissatisfaction is understandable. After all, with the score at 1:1, referee Dmytro Kubryak had every right to award a penalty kick against the nominal hosts when their player Melnychuk acted clumsily after a cross, and the ball hit his elbow in the penalty area. The foul was obvious, however, Kubryak decided not to penalize 'Kudrivka'.
It is also unclear to me why VAR referee Oleksandr Afanasyev did not suggest to his colleague to review this episode; then the mistake could have been avoided.
However, soon Kubryak did point to the penalty mark when the guest defender Grygorashchuk fouled Svitjusia. Here there were no complaints against the referee: 'Kudrivka' converted the penalty and gained very valuable three points,” Stupar said.