This weekend, the matches of the 12th round of the current Ukrainian championship are taking place. In one of them, on Sunday, November 9th, Kyiv 'Dynamo' faced Cherkasy LNZ. The match was held in Kyiv at the 'Dynamo' stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi.
Ukrainian Championship. Round 12
’DYNAMO' (Kyiv) — LNZ (Cherkasy) — 0:1 (0:1)
Goal: Pastukh (45+1)
Warnings: Kabaev (69), Popov (75), Mikhavko (90) — Nonikashvili (72)
’Dynamo': 35.Neshcheret — 20.Karavayev, 4.Popov, 66.Tiarel (44.Dubinchak, 46), 32.Mikhavko — 8.Pikhalyonok (10.Shaparenko, 65), 91.Mikhaylenko — 22.Kabaev, 29.Buyalskyi (77.Blenutse, 81)(C), 9.Voloshyn (16.Ogundana, 65) — 7.Yarmolenko (39.Guerrero, 34).
Substitutes: 51.Morgun, 2.Vivcharenko, 5.Yatsyk, 14.Burtnyk, 15.Rubchynskyi, 17.Torres, 18.Tymchyk.
LNZ: 12.Palamarchuk, 11.Pasich, 25.Horyn, 34.Muravskyi (C), 14.Drambaev, 16.Riabov, 19.Pastukh, 10.Yashari, 8.Prosper (23.Kravchuk, 84), 17.Kuzyk (4.Daiko, 79), 90.Assinor (5.Nonikashvili, 71).
Substitutes: 1.Ledvii, 72.Samoylenko, 3.Yermachkov, 6.Tankovskyi, 7.Einel, 9.Avahimian, 24.Polyak, 27.Bennett, 88.Kysil.
Match Statistics >>>
Post-match Press Conference >>>
All results of the Ukrainian championship, league table, match schedule >>>
From the very first minutes of the match, LNZ started applying very high pressing, which prevented 'Dynamo', despite having overwhelming ball control, from making their actions sharp at the opponent’s goal. However, in the 16th minute of the meeting, the Kyiv team was close to success: Pikhalyonok delivered from a free kick from the left flank, Karavayev extended the play to the far post where Mikhavko just missed connecting to the pass by a fraction of a second at the goalpost.
And, in principle, that’s it: nothing truly dangerous from 'Dynamo' materialized at the LNZ goal in the first half. Yes, Kabaev had a great opportunity, taking an unopposed shot from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball went straight to Palamarchuk’s hands. Also worth mentioning is the episode on the 37th minute when Guerrero executed a spectacular and precise volley from the penalty area center, but firstly, the goalkeeper of LNZ managed to punch the ball away, and secondly, Karavayev, who set up Guerrero, handled the ball with his hand, caught by the referee.
It ended with LNZ opening the score in injury time of the first half: as the result of a counterattack, Cherkasy’s team had Prosper one-on-one with Neshcheret, taking a shot from the penalty area line. The 'Dynamo' goalkeeper saved his team, deflecting the ball, but Pastukh was first to the rebound, striking from about 23 meters into an undefended goal — 0:1.
After the first half, the pace of play increased. 'Dynamo' naturally rushed to equalize, but LNZ didn’t even come close to playing for a draw, and it couldn’t be said that there was a clearly defined advantage for Kyiv: they regularly faced counterattacks. The first noteworthy episode of the second half occurred in the 55th minute when a flank cross from Karavayev into the visitors' penalty area saw Muravskyi, as it appeared, take Popov down on the field, and the referee awarded a penalty. However, upon using VAR, the referee reversed his decision.
Subsequently, the 'Dynamo' players stormed LNZ’s goal with all their might, but couldn’t create any truly dangerous chances. Notable was only a cannonball strike by Popov from 25 meters, which Palamarchuk barely managed to save in a leap. Ultimately, the score on the scoreboard, 0:1, became the final result.
Now 'Dynamo' shares fourth and fifth places in the UPL standings with 'Kryvbas', trailing the leading 'Shakhtar' by four points, but the Donetsk team has yet to play their current round’s match (today 'The Miners' will face 'Poltava').
The Ukrainian championship will now take a two-week pause due to national team matches. In the next, 13th round of the championship, 'Dynamo' awaits an away match against Kovalivka’s 'Kolos', which will take place on Saturday, November 22nd (starting at 15:30).
Alexander POPOV from the 'Dynamo' stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi