Will Phoenix recover from yesterday’s defeat from Persha Stolytsia in the second U15 match of the Championship of Ukraine? In the early match of the second round against the hosts of the pitch, who played only one game yesterday (the team from Avdiivka did not come to Zolochiv), the boys answered this question in the affirmative. Yes, and at such a rate! Already in the first minute, after Ivan Konkov's powerful shot the ball ended up in the net of the Zolochiv DYSSh team.
Phoenix was giving the opponent a hard time, having, probably, played its best 20 minutes in the championship, so far. Both fours looked great on the pitch, combined a lot, fought, hit on goal and tried to act creatively. Before the break four more goals were scored in Yaroslav Ovsyannikov's net. At the same time, our keeper - Eldar Bratchuk - kept his gates on the lock.
The score 5:0 was reassuring to the boys, but not to the coaches. Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko remembered very well yesterday’s game with Sokil, in which Phoenix, too, achieved a quick lead 3:0, allowing the opposition to engage it in nerve-straining hide-and-seek the whole match long. Therefore, it was precisely this that our coaches discussed with the guys during the break. But it didn’t sink in. From the outset of the second half, the team played imposingly, believing the victory was theirs. As a result, the ball flew into Eldar Bratchuk net. And what a goal it was! Yehor Shyshkin with a chip shot kicked the ball in the top corner of Eldar Bratchuk's net: the keeper was far from his penalty area.
Two minutes later, the home team scored for a second goal. True, we answered this ball right away - with Danylo Khodatskyi's first goal ever in a Ukrainian Championship. Still, the game itself reminded a see-saw. And when we conceded a third goal in the 26th minute, the opponent felt that the game could still be saved. The play got strenuous and often rough. The two teams earned 7 fouls in the second half of the match, five of which were awarded to the hosts.
In this struggle our boys did not yield, they were working it well, which we did not see in yesterday's match with Persha Stolytsia. Another importantly positive thing is that Artem Shevchenko seemed to have established himself alright in the team. Being a confident pivot, he helped us greatly to control the ball and complete attacks, and to get out of the defense, too, when the opponent put us under pressure.
In the second half, all the sin bins of the match were equally distributed between the teams. For Andrii Parshyn, who received two yellow cards in two minutes, they turned into an immediate ejection.
In most cases Phoenix kept a good possession of the ball, but this did not lead to a goal. Still, the team capped the scoring in the last minute, when, after a timeout, the guys played a free kick in a cool and original way.
In this match, boys' excellent accuracy is worth noting. Out of 25 shots on goal, 21 were on target. For comparison, out of 24 shots on our target, only 10 were on target.
Two hours later, Phoenix has a match with one of our group's overdogs - Valki DYSSh. In the meantime, the team gets through to the top three, having gained two victories in three matches. Note, that the first 4 teams from each group enter Championship final.