For Phoenix the past seven days were as full of futsal game as it gets. Judge for yourselves: over the past week Serhii Hrytsenko and Yurii Vashchenko's players were having their seventh match a week! Monday to Wednesday, our guys began to compete in Ukraine U-15 Futsal Championship and the matches took pace in the town of Zolochiv in Kharkiv Oblast. After three victories and three defeats, Phoenix is still to claim entering the playoffs. One way or another, our guys had to switch to no less intense battles of local importance.

In the Kharkiv Open Championship Phoenix made a lame start, losing to DYSSh-11 (2:4). The past confrontation with DYSSh-5, too, did not seem like a walk in the park, although, statistics from previous head-to-head matches positively charged the fans of the violets. Six victories in seven matches: our guys lost only once - in August 2018 (1:2). Phoenix had certain lineup problems in the wakeup of the match in question, so the coaching staff had to use various combinations of players. Nikita Bodnar had an injury back in Zolochiv, and, therefore, was missing the second match in a row; Kyrylo Horbatenko and Hlib Ivanyuzhenko were still recovering from injuries, Denys Mikhno spent the whole week in hospital.

Note, that Dmytro Holub, DYSSh-5 coach, had only two field players on the bench. Phoenix opponents started off actively. Basically, they relied on their skipper's Konstantin Ovsyannikov's long-range shots, but Volodymyr Lazeba was alert. Unable to score a quick goal, DYSSh-5 players switched to defending their own net and acted in a highly condensed manner, complicating the task of the attacking side a great deal. However, as the proverb goes, 'little strokes fell great oaks' - and our guys kept on trying to achieve the desired result.

The first goal was scored in the middle of the first half by Daniil Boldyzhev - Phoenix skipper. He started a goal sequence and managed to complete it with an accurate shot, picking up Maksym Dolhulia's assist, the ball deflecting off the opposition player. Having scored into the opponent’s goal, our guys picked up steam, seizing the initiative on the pitch. They played long combinations, occasionally getting goalkeeper Ivan Luchnikov to step in.

DYSSh-5 conceded a second goal after a free kick. Artem Shevchenko and Danylo Khodatskyi executed a well-practiced standard, and Demyd Yevsiukov powered in a goal. Soon the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the 1st half and Phoenix players left the site hoping for success in the next 20-minute half.

These hopes were justified early in the second half, when two more goals ended up in DYSSh-5 net with an interval of two minutes. At first, Maksym Dolhulia and Danylo Boldyzhev connected again, and Phoenix skipper powered in a shot into the net of the opposition. The next moment, Olexandr Bezruk fed an assist to Daniil Dudin, who hit the target with a close-range shot.

With little less than five minutes till the end, Phoenix coaching staff decided to apply the 5-a-side tactics. Fortunately, a solid lead made such experiments possible. True, Kosyantyn Ovsyannikov managed to revive the intrigue on the pitch, scoring two goals - by first sending the ball into the far corner of the opponent’s net, and then by confidently implementing a 6-meter kick. However, soon everything fell into place when our guys managed to make a good use of their numerical superiority and in the final phase of the attack, Mykhailo Soldatenko shot to the far post, and Maksym Dolhulia scored his 6th goal in head-to-heads with DYSSh-5, being the best scorer by this indicator among Phoenix players. He managed to establish the final score in the match - 5:2, three match points going to Phoenix.

Phoenix-2, however, failed to please the fans, losing to Bohodukhiv DYSSh 0:6. Our guys can pride themselves on the first half, keeping it a clean sheet. Still, fighting on equal terms with the group leader, who scored 9 points out of 9 possible, was more than Phoenix-2 could manage.

(Photos by Denys Tymoshenko and Olena Horbatenko)