Charged with positive emotions after Friday's game against DYSSh-12 (2004), Phoenix players were ready to take on the team representing the Kharkiv region. Our guys approached the match against Torpedo from the village of Babai with the utmost concentration. Many of them still have fresh memories of the events of the previous full-time match, in which the trainees of Serhii Hrytsenko and Yuri Vashchenko celebrated their success with a score of 9:3, having missed the first goal early in the game. True, eventually the higher class of Phoenix players did its bit and the team finished the autumn tournament of the Kharkiv Open Championship third in the standings.
Today's match was held in Dynamo sports centre. After Taraflex flooring in the hall in Pesochin, our players needed some time to readapt to the unloved rubber. This fact, though, does not justify the two conceded goals early in the game. In actual fact, our guys started the match with great zeal, and only due to fatal bad luck Phoenix failed to take the early lead. At first it seemed that scoring into Torpedo's net was just a matter of time. Eventually, a goal was scored - however, those were Phoenix's players that kicked off the ball. Vladislav Rakhmail struck from a narrow angle, and Vladimir Laseba failed to help out the teammates.
Not even a minute had passed when Torpedo's counterattack followed and it was Artem Myshkov this time, which made an accurate shot. Ivan Mikhaylichenko, the coach, was pleased, because the underdog tactic was bringing success to his boys. Torpedo's active pressure, on the other hand, would not let our guys freely start positional attacks. At that moment, there was a feeling that a goal scored by Phoenix could significantly change the course of the game. However, time passed, and Torpedo's goalie would keep the gate 'locked.'
The key moment occurred in the 14th minute of the match, when Mikhail Soldatenko managed to direct the ball between Ihor Omelchenko's legs. Already before the break, our guys managed to even the score, having played out a classic three-move combination involving Daniil Dudin, Daniil Boldyzhev and Artem Shevchenko, which could not miss the empty net of the opponent.
In the second half, Phoenix continued their attacking play, whereas Torpedo players were increasingly lacking time to block the bottlenecks. Also, the opponent had no significant gain from the bench, with only two players in reserve. Ihor Omelchenko, the goalie, being on a tear saved several close range shots in an excellent manner. However, Mikhail Soldatenko, who became one of the key figures in the last confrontation, struck the shot that the goalkeeper could not but miss.
After that goal conqest, Phoenix was hard to stop. A weighty word was said by team captain Ivan Konkov, who sent the ball just under the crossbar with a powerful shot. Maxym Dolhulia, who brought to a logical conclusion a combination with Daniil Dudin, also did his bit in scoring. Well, duty done. So, a missed goal struck by Mykyta Kononenko at the finish of the game did not really upset our guys who had won their three points. The victory with a score of 5:3 allowed Phoenix to rise to fourth place in the standings (18 points scored in 9 games).
Phoenix-2 looked very decent in its match against KhTZ-2 - the leader of the group, and 5-a-side game was pleasing. However, a sensation did not happen and the team of Hennady Kosenkov celebrated its victory - 4:1.
Serhii Hrytsenko (Phoenix coach):
- I want to say a big thank you to the opposition. They led 2-0, but our guys showed fighting qualities. I liked the way they acted in today's game.
- How did you manage to turn the course of the game?
- It was the team play that did it. There were more accurate passes and the diagonals worked. I would not praise the 'standards' aspect of the matter, because something worked out, and something didn’t. When the guys miss the first goal, they immediately lose heart. It is critical to be the first to score, and then the team gets into the right mood. They missed the first and second goals today and their spirits fell slightly. Then we cheered them up - and they found their bearings.