Сайт арбітрів Київщини продовжує нову рубрику – «Подорожні нотатки від Філа», у якій англієць Філ Хоуден, закоханий у аматорський футбол нашого регіону, ділиться своїми враженнями від побаченого.
Кілька слів про самого Філа. Він футбольний фанат із Йорка, що на півночі Англії. Також є арбітром із крикету. Одна з його пристрастей – український футбол усіх рівнів, за яким він спостерігає в нашій країні вже 24 роки. Він спостерігав за приблизно 400 іграми в Україні, також подорожує по Європі за національною збірною й бачив наживо кожну гру «жовто-синіх» на великих турнірах. Нещодавній локдаун надихнув його дослідити футбол Київської області та відвідати багато нових місць, де є аматорський футбол. Наразі Філ проживає в Києві, куди повернувся з Британії у вересні минулого року.
FROM THE SIDELINES (18/04/21)
Despite the inclement weather and the cool temperatures, the heat was certainly on in the Kyiv Oblast leagues this weekend with lots of entertaining games and a few shocks along the way. I was fortunate to see four matches, two in each division, and all four of them were very enjoyable for any football fan to view.
On Saturday I took a trip to Champion Stadium in Irpin, a neat stadium with excellent facilities, where two Premier League matches took place. The first saw home club and defending Kyiv Oblast Premier League champions Kudrivka take on Ronin Lisne in what many believed would be a comfortable home win.
Last season, Kudrivka were worthy champions and recently followed this up with a victory over Sokil Mykhailivka-Rubezivka in the Oblast Super Cup. However, this season has seen some inconsistency creep into the play of the champions and, once again, some vulnerability was shown as they struggle to defend their title.
Ronin, who played some really nice passing football, took a deserved lead on 16 minutes after a bright opening spell. After that, Kudrivka huffed and puffed but, as time ticked away towards the final whistle, it looked like the visitors would take home the points. However, in the second minute of added time, Oleksandr Babor’s side found an equaliser, scoring with almost the last kick of the game. Understandably, Ronin were crestfallen as referee Kutakov, who took firm control of a physical game, blew the whistle to end the encounter as a 1-1 draw.
Next up were Sokil Mykhailivka-Rubezhivka who took on outsiders Horodok-1998 Vasylkiv, a side who had lost both their opening fixtures and who were in desperate need of points to pull away from the bottom of the table. What was to take place was an absolutely incredible game that will live long in my memory.
It was to be a busy afternoon for referee Dubykivskiy who dealt with the increasing pressure from both on and off the field very well in what was a crazy game of football. After a very even beginning, Sokil took the lead on 26 minutes when star man Joshua Lagi fired a crisp shot into the net from just inside the box. The lead only lasted for four minutes as Horodok were then awarded a penalty, Startsev scoring confidently from the spot to equalise.
In the second period, things sparked into life when Horodok goalkeeper Tyshchenko was dismissed for a professional foul. Of course, the visitors were now up against it having to play nearly the whole half with only ten men. Five minutes later, Sokil inflicted the ultimate punishment, Lagi thrashing the ball past the substitute keeper from a tight angle for 2-1.
Against all the odds, the men from Vasylkiv caused a sensation that you would not have believed. Despite being a player light, they won a penalty on 72 minutes which Vyacheslav Panfilov put away for the equaliser and then, with Sokil pouring forward desperate for the winner, Panfilov broke away and, after the keeper had saved his first shot, somehow managed to slide the ball into the net to give Horodok an incredible victory.
You have to say it showed incredible togetherness, determination and team spirit from Horodok to win this game. Sokil later described the defeat as a “tragi-comedy” but admitted that they only had themselves to blame.
Sunday began with a trip to another neat modern venue, City Stadium in Vyshneve. The match on offer was SC Hatne versus Kristal Yahotyn in what was the ‘match of the day’ in the Kyiv Oblast First League. I can say with some confidence that anyone who finishes above Hatne in the league will be champions. And, in my opinion, no-one will.
With coach Yuriy Balashev organising his team to perfection, orchestrating events with his tactics board and passionate motivational team talks, Hatne are absolutely dynamite and a great football team to watch. You cannot help but wonder if, had they been in the Premier League this season, how near the top of the standings they would be.
One player to mention in the Hatne line-up is former Mariupol and Vorskla veteran Ivan Kryvosheyenko. Although he is approaching his 37th birthday next month, he is still a joy to watch. His control and vision is still miles above this level and you can see why he played so many games in the Ukrainian Premier League, and why he has had such an accomplished career. He is a Rolls Royce of a player and I love watching him on the ball.
Kristal have had a good start to the season but had absolutely no chance after allowing Hatne to take the lead in the very first minute. Do that against a top side and you will be punished and this is precisely what happened, Hatne hitting six goals (including a sweet strike from Kryvoshenyenko and two goals from Rybtsov) with Yagotyn managing only one in return, and even that was an own goal.
The scorer of the own goal was Mihailo Denisov, who decided to make up for this black mark by scoring two goals at the right end, raising his arms like a boxer to celebrate his achievements and even asking for a cheeky photo with the match ball after the game. Does it count as a hattrick? I don’t think the experienced 35 year old stalwart will care too much after such a fine win.
The final game of the weekend was at Arsenal-Arena in Shchaslive where I went to see Avanhard Bziv, who had suffered a surprise defeat in Obukhiv last week, and Viktoria Zabirya, a very promising team. The first half was played in terrible light from a spectator’s point of view, but this had no affect on the players who took part in a full-blooded encounter under the watchful eye of referee Martynenko.
After a goalless first half, the match came alive when Avanhard were awarded a penalty, Butenko sending the keeper the wrong way to score. Bziv then went into a 2-0 lead with Onopchenko scoring, but Viktoria subsequently pulled a goal back with a penalty of their own. However, Onopchenko added a third goal, which was onside despite the protests, and that was enough to give Avanhard the points. So, another fantastic weekend of Kyiv Oblast football. Some great things are happening this season in both divisions and the excitement has only just begun!
