Bendera, Riznyk, Ari Moura and the Brazilian savior of the “crusaders”: the entire team of the 15th round of the first stage of the First League

Game program of the 15th round (video report here)

About the best personalities and main figures of the tour – here.

Vracontainer – Alexander Litvinenko (Victoria)

Victoria’s defeat has significantly worsened her position in the group of leaders – now the gap from the Kharkiv team is four points, the Sumy team is fifth, although most recently the cup heroes were right behind SK Poltava in second place. However, goalkeeper Litvinenko is not the one who can be blamed for this shorthanded defeat. In total, Alexander made six saves, including parrying a free kick from Terekhov and a treacherous long-range shot from Pudi under the crossbar. In the moment with the goal, I. Zubkov had little chance to save, because after the shot and successful handling of the ball he found himself in front of the far corner of the goal for the goalkeeper.

• Best in Group B: Dmitry Nepogodov (Podolia)

Pravy defender – Roman Yuvhimets (YUKSA)

The flanks of the crusaders in Gorishni Plavni worked synchronously and dangerously. Let us note Yuvkhimts, who, in the absence of Zozulya and Kononov gaining form, got his chance to prove himself. Roman covered a huge amount of space from flag to flag and provided the attackers with quality serves and crosses. More than once the same Debelko and Wendy escalated the game after that. Yuvkhimets himself also shot quite well at the Kremenchuzians’ goal. A good first match in almost a month in the starting lineup.

• Best in Group A: Ivan Gavrushko (Agribusiness)

Tsecentral defender – Miroslav Serdyuk (FC Kudrovka)

In general, SK Poltava has a good attacking group, and even the absence of wingers Galenkov and Shmigelsky did not weaken the difficult tasks of the visiting defensive unit. In Gorishni Plavny, where the townspeople were forced to take on their closest pursuer, they created a certain number of chances at Yashkov’s goal, but significantly less than usual. Last but not least, this became possible thanks to the high-quality play of Serdyuk, who often and successfully acted in aerial combat, cleaned up on interceptions and rebounds, and in three moments simply “pulled off the stop valve”, preventing too dangerous attacks from the hosts from hit.

• Best in Group A: Oleg Veremienko (Podolia)

Tsecentral defender – Artem Terekhov (FSK Mariupol)

The Azov team are playing in the last rounds without their experienced players and even reserve goalkeepers. This requires the full concentration of the defenders, because young Yakubenko has no backup and needs to be protected. In this regard, Terekhov’s tough style of play helped – it was possible to exclude from the game even those Victoria players who were not retained by the UPL-LNZ representative for the cup. Artem also traditionally visited the opponent’s goal, and this time he could score not from a connection, but from a direct shot (the goalkeeper helped out the hosts).

• Best in Group A: Stepan Grigorashchuk (Epicenter)

Lefirst defender – Andrey Dedyaev (YUKSA)

Although good, fast players play on the flanks of Kremny, YUKSA won these micro-duels. On the left we should note Dedyaev, an active participant in quick attacks and provider of innings for strikers. It was from a corner from Andrei that Wendy “Vava” Guerreiro scored the only and decisive goal in the match. Interestingly, Dedyaev himself could also score, but the impression was that after Gabriel’s free kick, he was disoriented by the rebound from his teammate – although the position was good and the ball went very close to the player.

• Best in Group A: Maxim Mudry (Niva Ternopil)

Tsecentral midfielder – Roman Tolochko (Agribusiness)

The difficult regional derby Agribusiness ended in a draw – ending the losing streak, but extended the winless streak to three rounds. It should be said here that the residents of Volochysk in the regional center showed strong-willed qualities and, above all, midfielder Tolochko helped them in this. Even before the break, he took advantage of Gavrushko’s cross pass and leveled the score with a long-range shot that rebounded. He scored on goal for the Khmelnytsky team more than once and performed a large amount of work in the center of the field, which allowed the guests to avoid defeat from Podolia.

• Best in Group B: Maxim Kazakov (YUKSA)

Prav midfielder – Ari Moura (Metalist 1925)

In the match with Zaporozhye, Metalist 1925 had to play for the result – because the competitors won, the leader changed, and van Leeuwen’s players had no right to lose this long-awaited “window of opportunity”. However, Metallurg defended selflessly and could even open the scoring when Borisenko hit the woodwork. And the nominal owners squandered their moments for a long time. It’s good that Moura played much sharper in the second half and scored a double with Yurchenko’s pass and Stan’s rebound. In the last five rounds, Ari scored six goals and made one assist.

• Best in Group A: Andrey Stolyarchuk (Podolia)

Atattacking midfielder – Andrey Storchous (FC Kudrovka)

The difficult match for first place was won by FC Kudrovka in the Poltava region. The guests were helped in this by the recent champion of the Second League as part of Friendship Storchous. He combined well, made a number of sharp passes and shot at the goal of SK Poltava three times from different positions and positions. In the end, he played a finishing move from close range when Andrushchenko hit the post. After that, the leader became the former, and the winner equaled him on points and pushed him out of first place thanks to the advantage he gained in head-to-head matches. Kudrovsk residents will now have it until the end of the season.

• Best in Group A: Evgeniy Zaporozhets (Epicenter)

Lefirst midfielder – Ivan Bendera (Epicenter)

Epicenter is gradually improving its personnel situation: Lyashenko returned from the hospital, Demidenko, who was announced (and played brilliantly against his ex-teammates from Minai!), returned from the hospital. Bender, sensing the increase in competition, played a particularly powerful match against an opponent who, in the summer, in the tournament of four – a forced playoff stage for the place of Dnepr-1 – did not miss Epicenter in the UPL. It was Ivan who opened the scoring in the debut with a pass from Kravchuk, before the break he earned a penalty on Daniil’s goal, and in the middle of the second half he scored again (this time from a pass from Lyashenko).

• Best in Group B: Andrey Boryachuk (Metalist 1925)

Onfalling – Andrey Riznyk (Niva Ternopil)

Ternopil regularly changes head coaches, and although they are extremely lucky in finding strong specialists, these reshuffles do not always lead to the desired improvement in results. It was only in the sixth match at the head of Niva that Wirth won his first victory at the head of the new team. Although the opponent – Prykarpattya – was successful in the last rounds and did not miss 408 minutes. So far, after Sidun’s strike, the active Riznyk had already “finished his meal” right in front of the goal in his debut. Andrey is a hard-working striker. It was he who earned a penalty for Galadei’s goal, which was very useful, because the guests fought to the last and would have neutralized the single goal difference.

• Best in Group B: Yaroslav Kvasov (FC Kudrovka)

Onfalling – Ilya Zubkov (FSK Mariupol)

We understand what difficulties Victoria had – the team, forced to play not in its hometown, won on penalties against LNZ in the middle of the week in a grueling more than 1.5 hour match with a protracted air raid. However, FSK Mariupol is a rival with its own problems, which, against the backdrop of enormous financial difficulties, plays on the moral and volitional qualities of the courageous members of the team. It’s exactly the same with forward I. Zubkov: he immediately shot at the Sumy team’s goal several times from different positions until he got his chance. After Malachi’s shot, he took the ball and scored the only goal of the match and the winning goal from close range. A heroic victory that reminds #Mariupol must live.

• Best in Group A: Daniil Kravchuk (Epicenter)

One can imagine how difficult it is to motivate a team when there are long debts on salaries and bonuses. In addition, not everyone declares to play in such conditions – in particular, the most stellar, authoritative and skillful football players. However, FSK Mariupol, in an away match with one of the leaders – Sumy Victoria – pulled out a confrontation with a minimal score in the end, although the most highly qualified midfielders Bogdanov and Demchenko could not take part in the Cherkassy away match, and the guests arrived even without a reserve goalkeeper. The way the team fights for the existence of the club confirms that #Mariupol must live.

• Analysis from the All-Ukrainian Association of Football Coaches – Here.

In the reporting round, several players entered the game well. Ivan Demidenko managed to provide an assist in the match against his ex-teammates, but did not convert any of the chances at Minaya’s goal; Roman Barchuk scored against Niva, but this did not save Prykarpattya from defeat in Ternopil; Sergei Stan significantly enlivened the game in the Mlynovo area, but his cross was still ricocheted by the referee and the assist was not recorded (Metalist 1925 won with Moura’s double). But we have a hero who came out and solved it. Wendy came off the bench and eventually scored the winning goal against Kremin. For his team, this victory is incredibly important: it retained third place for YUKSA and reduced the gap to the new duo of leaders to a minimum.

• SportArena.com statistics: 9 league matches, 5 goals, 1 assist.

Although Ivan won our most important individual category (see below), he is only 21 years old – so, of course, he will also take the age category for himself. For work – and honor!

• SportArena.com statistics: 12 league matches, 3 goals, 2 assists.

This round is full of ordinary goals, but among them there is this nice (and important in the tournament plan) hit. We quote the report: “During one of the attacks, Gavrushko passed the ball from the corner of the penalty area to the center to Tolochko, and Roman’s shot with a ricochet delivered the ball to the corner left of the goalkeeper – 1:1. The midfielder’s third goal with two assists this season and 10 for his entire time in the First League.”

The goal can be seen on video from 3:32

Read later on our website an interview with a player who scored twice against a recent UPL participant – FC Minaj – and earned a penalty against the guests

• SportArena.com statistics: 12 league matches, 3 goals, 2 assists.

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ALL THE BEST ON TOUR: goalkeeper, joker, young player, goalscorer – in one article. On our website – individual nominations in the First League and tour numbers!

PS When preparing the material, photographs of the official resources of the clubs were used. The material was written by the author in Ukrainian.