Dynamo midfielder Oleksandr Pikhalyonok shared his impressions of the away match in the Ukrainian championship against Kovalivka’s Kolos, in which the 'blue and whites' lost 1:2.
Oleksandr Pikhalyonok— The fact that we conceded an early goal is already a minus. I can’t say that we didn’t prepare well enough for the game. Unfortunately, the first half ended 2:0 not in our favor. In the second half, we started to act more sharply, scored late on — 2:1, but sadly, it wasn’t enough.
— Did the goal conceded at the start of the match disrupt your game plan?
— Of course, it somewhat «woke us up.» But even when you concede an early goal, there’s nothing terrible about it, things like this happen in football — you just need to continue playing and creating chances. Unfortunately, we made wrong decisions in simple situations and ultimately lost.
— It seemed like Dynamo had few chances and shots on goal in the first half, what do you think prevented their creation?
— We had 2−3 chances, if we had converted them, we would be speaking differently now. Kolos also didn’t have that many opportunities in the first half, but they used theirs.
— Was there a tough conversation in the locker room during halftime?
— Yes, it was difficult.
— Did that influence the team to act more actively in the second half?
— Certainly, after halftime, something needed to change, and yes, that conversation definitely had an impact.
— Why do you think Dynamo traditionally finds it difficult to play against Kolos?
— I don’t know, that’s a question not for me.
— Have you already thought about the next opponent in the Conference League — Cyprus’s Omonia?
— Not yet. Now that the match with Kolos is over, we’ll think about it.
