This time everything happened exactly the way it did in the corresponding round in Chornomorsk. After the initial wins over Energia and Ilichovets it was no other team but Phoenix that became a stumbling block for the Khmelnytskyy team. The violets looked rather calm and confident, having beaten Sokil with the same tally as they did last November - 3:1. Worth being pointed out are two great goals scored by Oleksandr Bezruk and Danylo Boldyzhev.
The match with Ilichovets could have become exciting, full of chances and long-running intrigue, just like the previous two matchups of the teams. In reality, the game turned out to leave a negative imprint in both teams, irrespective of whether it was victory or defeat that they finished the game with.
Ilichovets came to the most challenging round of the Championship of Ukraine, taking place in Lutsk, where each of the contesting teams was supposed to play six games in three days, with five outfield players and two goalkeepers. Oleksandr Kaplun, the head coach, did not come.
In such a situation on each of the first two days the reds quite predictably managed to last only one of two games. On day one the first game was against Crystal from Odessa (4:5) and on day two Ilichovets showed decent play against Chorne More from Odessa, where it lost in the end but it did lead the score 2:0.
The match with Phoenix quite literally became a nightmare for the exhausted team of Oleksandr Kaplun. It was not the tally that did it.
At the end of the first half Oleksandr Vasiliev, a reds’ fresher got injured. Ambulance took the player away to examine him for a potential fracture.
Ilichovets had no substitutes left. Yeva Raienko had to change her goalie’s uniform for the one of an outfield player and give way to Ivan Veretyany, team’s second keeper.
The team, tired and with a lag of 3 points, started to play nervously and it led to three warnings. One of those became fourth for Mirab Parulava, the leader of the Chornomorsk team. It meant that in tomorrow's match against Sports School No 25, one of the tournament leaders, Ilichovets will play with zero subs.
The spirits dropped. Phoenix, up and running, needed a win, not a win from a rival, exhausted by staffing issues, though. For that reason, the second half the team played by inertia, the minds of the players set on what was going on with their injured player, rather than on the play.
The six points, the violets gained in the two matches of today took Phoenix to the fourth position in the standings with a lag between us and the leader reducing to two points. The group of medal contenders shuffles over and over again after each round played. The unbelievably intriguing situation, involving Ukraine’s best youth sports clubs keeps all the contestants on their toes, at the same time being a pleasure to observe because of the level of play the teams show. So, the final outlook of the standings before the last break between the rounds of the domestic championship is as hard to predict as ever even now, the day before the Lutsk round is over.