This weekend, matches of the 8th round of the current Ukrainian championship are taking place. One of them saw Luhansk 'Zorya' play against Kyiv 'Dynamo' on Saturday, October 18. The match was nominally a home game for Luhansk, but took place in Kyiv at the Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovsky, where 'Zorya' hosts its opponents this season.
Photo — Yurii YurievUkrainian Championship. 9th round
’ZORYA' (Luhansk) — ’DYNAMO' (Kyiv) — 1:1 (0:0)
Goals: Budkovskyi (84) — Buyalskyi (61)
Warnings: Kushnirenko (53) — Voloshyn (54)
’Dynamo': 35.Neshcheret — 20.Karavaev, 4.Popov, 66.Tiarea, 2.Vivcharenko — 91.Mykhailenko, 8.Pikhalyonok (6.Brazhko, 72) — 9.Voloshyn (22.Kabayev, 82), 29.Buyalskyi (C) (7.Yarmolenko, 82), 16.Ogundana — 39.Guerrero (77.Blynutse, 72).
Substitutes: 51.Morgun, 74.Ihnatenko, 5.Yatsyk, 14.Burtnyk, 15.Rubchynskyi, 32.Mikhavko, 34.Zakharchenko, 99.Ponomarenko.
’Zorya': 1.Saputin, 44.Perduta, 55.Jordan, 5.Janic, 10.Junior Reis, 77.Kushnirenko, 6.Popara (22.Michin, 75), 7.Andushich, 9.Slesar (21.Bashich, 75), 47.Vantukh (8.Dryshlyuk, 90+3), 28.Budkovskyi (C) (11.Gorbach, 90+1).
Substitutes: 12.Turbaevskyi, 31.Kosivskyi, 4.Eskinya, 24.Golovkin, 36.Ruan, 99.Vakula.
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The match began evenly fought and uneventful, although Voloshyn’s strike in the 11th minute, which led to a ricochet with the ball whizzing over the 'Zorya' crossbar, shouldn’t be overlooked. Notably, after a corner that followed, the ball ended up in the net, but Popov, who struck at the goal, committed a foul against Saputin.
Later, Buyalskyi shot from inside the penalty area, but was hampered by an opponent — the attempt was unsuccessful, yet Saputin managed to catch the ball. By the 28th minute, 'Zorya’s' goal faced real danger: Ogundana broke through on the left flank, passed to Voloshyn in the center of the penalty area, who was one-on-one with the goalkeeper but shot directly at him.
Zorya responded with a precise strike from Budkovskyi from 14 meters, but Neshcheret confidently covered the ball. By the 40th minute, Luhansk was close to scoring: Vantukh went one-on-one with Saputin, opted not to shoot, passed laterally to the advancing Andushich, who shot from within the penalty area, but Neshcheret saved 'Dynamo'. The teams went into halftime with the score still tied at zero.
Early in the second half, 'Dynamo' missed an incredible chance to open the score: Buyalskyi crossed from the left flank to Pikhalyonok in the center of the penalty area, who skillfully accepted the pass, was one-on-one with Saputin, but shot from six meters directly at the goalkeeper; the ball rebounded to Voloshyn, who attempted a follow-up and shot directly under the crossbar, yet Saputin managed a save for 'Zorya' in a dive.
Yet, the next opportunity was seized by the 'blue-white': Karavaev sent the ball from the right flank in the penalty area to the unmarked Buyalskyi, who took a straight shot from 12 meters into the lower corner of the 'Zorya' goal — 0:1.
Dynamo didn’t rest on their success and maintained positional control. However, they couldn’t increase the score during this segment of the match. Only by the 81st minute could 'Dynamo' potentially have scored a second — Tiarea engaged in the attack, responded to a splitting pass from Ogundana down the left, entering the penalty area, but Saputin denied the attempt.
Everything ended with a goal for 'Zorya'. In the 84th minute, Andushich easily outplayed Ogundana on the right flank, crossed to the penalty spot where neither Tiarea nor Popov could prevent Budkovskyi from scoring with a header — 1:1, the final score.
Now 'Dynamo' shares second and third places in the Ukrainian championship standings with 'Shakhtar', trailing leaders 'Kryvbas' by two points, but 'miners' have yet to play their 9th round match (today 'Shakhtar' is away at Zhytomyr 'Polesie').
In the next 10th round, 'Dynamo' will host 'Kryvbas' on Sunday, October 26, in Kyiv at the Valeriy Lobanovsky Stadium (kickoff at 18:00).
Alexander POPOV from Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovsky
