The second match day of the League Cup was supposed to indicate the tournament prospects of the violets. Two extremely difficult matches against teams that are very similar in their style of play – Valky Sports School and FC Talne tested Phoenix not only for endurance, but also for the team spirit. Moreover, the boys would hate to spoil the holiday for Danylo Khodatskyi, whose today's birthday turned out to be quite full of action.

The morning meeting between Phoenix and Valky Sports School became a real gem of the tournament. This season the game of Viktor Detyuk's team is shaped by the students of Kharkiv Arsenal and Bohodukhiv Sports School, who'd ousted many of the familiar players from the Valky team. It was through their efforts that in many respects the Valkovites, having significantly transformed their game, won First League U15 in the Ukrainian Championship and tried their hand at U17 Top League.

The initiative was owned by turns, the teams showing their commitment and good physical and technical backgrounds. In the first half, the participants of the Kharkiv derby took turns scoring. Phoenix was first to concede, managing to recoup twice after the goals by Mykyta Bodnar and Danylo Boldyzhev. At the beginning of the second half, the violets took the lead through the efforts of Maksym Dolgulia, who turned home an athletically played pass of Artyom Shevchenko. The success was evasive, though. Having conceded twice, Phoenix switched to the game with the fifth outfield player. The Valkovites managed to withstand, and in those cases where the goalkeeper and the defense were powerless, the goal frame came to the rescue. The final whistle caught Phoenix in another attack, but the boys failed to draw even. So, the match between one of the main contenders for the medals of the tournament ended with a slim advantage of the Valky team, practically clearing the way for the latter to the tournament final.

So, by the beginning of the match with the team from Talne, the tournament situation for Phoenix was, not that hopeless, but practically leaving no room for error. The day before, the opposition surprised many spectators with a powerful mature game, and a few hours earlier caught up with Phoenix in points gained, defeating their fellow team from Beloziria.

During the pre-match setup, our coaches made a point of the exceptional importance of the first eight minutes of the match, anticipating the starting onslaught of the over-motivated opposition. As if in confirmation of the coaches' words, the yellow-blue team from Talne seized the initiative from the starting whistle, and already by the end of the first minute had a chance to open the scoring, hadn't the ball hit the post of Eldar Bratchuk's empty goal.

Next a wide open game began, in which the players of Phoenix were closer to success, but they could not struggle through the selfless defense and the goalkeeper of the opposition, who acted confidently on the goal line and cleaned up the flaws in the defense outside the penalty area (and sometimes in the opponent's half of the field ). When the teams in their thoughts were preparing for the half-time swap, Demнd Yevsyukov's power play and his pass to the far post was turned home by Artyom Shevchenko in a desperate jump with a last minute goal.

The second half also began under the dictation of the team from the Cherkasy region. The Talny team took advantage of the inconsistency in the actions of Phoenix players and implemented a three-on-two counterattack, drawing even. The conceded goal became a catalyst for the effective actions of both teams, making the second half a complete opposite of the first one in terms of the number of goals scored.

For a start, Danylo Boldyzhev, overlooked by the defenders, got in a strike that would have been effective by itself, just to be on the safe side, though, Demyd Yevsyukov sent the ball into the goal. Having conceded again, Talne players went big, exposing the rear and involving their goalie into the attacks. Ivan Mazur's individual efforts were not for nothing and allowed him to score an equalizer with a beautiful curler. Literally in the next breath Phoenix' negligence while performing a set piece led to Maksym Tulchinsky's one-on-one with Eldar Bratchuk, and the yellow-blue team took the lead for the first time in that match.

The defeat was not in the plans of Kharkiv coaches, and the violets started to use the fly goalkeeper right away. Standing quite firm in this match and looking very cool and agile, Phoenix looked beyond praise implementing this game component. Almost immediately after Danylo Boldyzhev put on the jersey of the fifth outfield player, Artyom Shevchenko leveled the score, making up for one of the goals his team conceded.

To confuse the opposition, the Kharkiv team changed the goalie from attack to attack, so that Bratchuk defended his goal against the attacks of the opposition, and Danylo Boldyzhev was used as a fly goalkeeper. In the end of the day, it was Danylo who became the author of the decisive goal, which logically concluded the next go for the numerical advantage. Four minutes before the end of regulation time, Artyom Shevchenko scored the fifth goal with a hat-trick.

The last minute and a half Phoenix spent defending against five outfield players of the opposition. In the end of the match we were rather close to increasing the goal difference, were Yevsyukov or Boldyzhev more accurate when shooting at an empty goal. In any case, the boys brought the match to a completely comfortable, but laborious and challenging win.

To recuperate for tomorrow's decisive group matches, the team went to a sauna. A steam room, a swimming pool and tea with mint and honey: for sure, Danylo Khodatskyi has never had a birthday like that!