Vysheyshaya Liga Match Report: 15th Round, June 26th 2020- Energetik-BGU 5-0 Slavia Mozyr

The weekend's curtain raiser took place on a hot and sultry afternoon in Molodechno, with the thermometer pushing thirty degrees. It was the kind of afternoon for a freezing cold Coke in the shade, the soundtrack one of distant lawnmowers and half-stunned insects droning slowly by in the heat; certainly not a day for a high-intensity game of elite football. Unfortunately, owing to the game's timing, the crowd was a little sparse, with only a small knot of fans having the time to make the journey from Mozyr on a working day, and a much thinner home crowd.

Coach Vladimir named an unchanged side from the one that started against Dinamo Minsk. Shahkboz Umarov continued in his midfield berth, with Vasily Sovpel still unable to force his way into the starting line up.

I'd expected a tough game against an unpredictable opponent. What transpired on Friday was absolutely the opposite. The tone for the game was set very early on. Soon after the kick off, the dreadlocked Gleb Shevchenko had the ball at his feet just in his own half; pressure from Nosko forced him back, and then back further, so much so that he decided to return it to his goalkeeper. The midfielder wasn't looking properly, however. His pass towards Romanyuk in goal was casual and under-powered. Yakshiboev, lurking on the shoulder of the last man, showed great anticipation by nipping in before the Slavia keeper could get there. He rounded the helpless goalie and arrowed towards the empty goal from a tight angle. Nedashkovskiy desperately tried to cover on the goal line; Yaskhiboev teased him, and then with his left foot flicked the ball home. 1-0, and one of the most generously gifted goals we'll ever score. The "underhit backpass" goal is quite rare now since backpasses to the keeper were stopped over 25 years ago, so this was a nostalgic throwback of an opener.

After clogged and stultifyingly boring games in the last two weekends, this was to be a classic, open game and over the course we dominated Slavia in midfield, comprehensively. Shevchenko was terrible; he wandered about the middle of the park as though looking for a set of dropped car keys, utterly peripheral to the game going on around him.  The main danger came from Francis Narh. Half way through the first half, he received the ball from the left touchline and ran across the face of our defence, two or three yards beyond the area. Despite the close attentions of Miroshnikov and Mawatu, the talented Ghanaian pivoted and with his right foot unleashed a powerful shot that cleared Sadovskiy and bounced out of play of the top of the bar. For once, it wasn't us being denied by the woodwork.

Energetik began to pile chance upon chance on the overworked Romanyuk in the Slavia goal. From a Yak corner, Nosko roise high at the far post; jostled by a Slavia defender, he headed wide when well placed. A murderous low drive from Bakić was well blocked by the keeper from close range. A Yakshiboev free kick from about twenty eight yards on the right dipped over a make shift wall and forced Romanyuk into a fine sprawling save low down to his right, with the ball heading in.

However the next major incident of note wasn't to be a goal. Following a good run down the left touchline, Jérémy Mawatu played a teasing cross in towards the near post, with both Dušan Bakić and Nedashkovskiy going for it. Bakić, his foot quite high, appeared to catch the Slavia no.17 accidentally in a 50:50 clash. Nedashkovskiy crashed earthwards and stayed there, as though auditioning for the chainsaw scene in Scarface.

In a ludicrous decision, the referee, having checked the prone defender, sent Bakić off for serious foul play. Yes, the Montenegrin caught his opponent, accidentally- a yellow card at worst- there was no malice or intent there. Yet the referee, perhaps influenced by Nedashkovskiy's histrionics, reached a hasty and wrong conclusion. I hope that, if there is an appeal mechanism for refereeing decisions, the club use it. This was a complete injustice and left us a man short with three quarters of the game to go.

The worry at that point was that, with us a man down and confidence fragile from our recent poor run, Slavia would wake up and grind us down slowly over the remainder of the match. The hot and sticky afternoon made having the extra man an even bigger advantage. The visitors had their best chance a few minutes before the half ended. Untidy penalty box pinball saw the ball fall to Ukrainian striker Maksim Slyusar, twelve yards out and just a couple of yards outside Sadovskiy's left hand post. Slyusar put the laces of his right boot through the ball but Sadovskiy stood up bravely; the ball cannoned off his right thigh and to safety. It was a critical moment, in retrospect. Sadovskiy will have harder afternoons than Friday, but still was at his best when needed.

Slavia replaced Francis Narh at half time, a cruel blow to their hopes, with the winger seemingly carrying a knock. But our new look opponents didn't have time to settle into the half before we got ourselves further in front. A long clearance from our defence caught Nedashkovskiy horribly under the ball, and his misjudged attempt to head the danger away was grimly inevitable. Yakshiboev, at his shoulder, burst clear to gather the dangerous ball in the box, at the left hand edge of the six yard area. The Uzbek teased Nedashkovskiy before easing a delightful lofted pass to Tweh, rushing in at the other edge of the area, and he bundled the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the net, as Slavia's ornamental back four stood there and watched him. A fine finish, and even being depleted, this gave us a great start to the second half.

Slavia, mystifyingly, offered very little going forward in the game. The second half was a procession. We could have been further ahead on fifty minutes when Yakshiboev, back to his early season form, was played in by a delightful cross field ball from Mawatu. A goal seemed inevitable, but his first shot was blocked by Shevchenko; his second effort, from close range, brilliantly turned aside low to his left by Romanyuk, who immediately bounced to his feet for a lengthy harangue of the defender who had let Yak past him in the first place. At this moment it looked like we would score every time we came into their box.

In fact three more goals were added in the last half hour. Just before the hour mark the dominant Nosko embarked on a powerful, unstoppable run deep into the Slavia half. He outwitted the half hearted Zhuk before feeding Yakshiboev, again on the shoulder of Nedashokovskiy. With a lighting turn to the left, using his right instep he cut in and left the bald centre half floundering; easily hurdled another despairing last minute challenge; and, from six yards, gently caressed the ball with his left foot past the helpless Romanyuk, low into the bottom right hand corner. 3-0, and any lingering doubts, fertilising in the dark compost of a long goalless run, were neutralised.

If Slavia could have walked off at that point I think they'd have done so willingly. Their ageing rearguard simply couldn't get a handle on Yakshiboev, as he pulled them about like a puppy gleefully dismantling a bird's nest. Every time Nedashkovskiy turned, Yak was there. And, they became so occupied failing to stop him, that space was left for others to take advantage.

The beneficiary in the last twenty minutes was Vasily Sovpel, on once again for Umarov. Another long ball over the top, with left back Yuri Pantya hopelessly over-committed and out of place, saw Sovpel burst clear in his own square hectare of fertile land on the Slavia left. He strode determinedly into the area and, with Nedashkovskiy struggling to intervene, hit the ball expertly across the advancing Romanyuk and inside the right hand post for the fourth.

Slavia had long since moved into damage limitation mode but one final slap in the face awaited them. With a minute to go, Yakshiboev motored down the middle of the park, surrounded by Slavia players who mystifyingly stood off him. Choosing his moment perfectly, he dinked a ball out to the right where again Sovpel had plenty of time and space to choose his spot. In an almost carbon copy of his first goal, but slightly closer in and from a sharper angle, the substitute again sent the ball hissing across the shell-shocked Romanyuk to find the net at almost exactly the same spot that the fourth had hit. 5-0, and all that was left still to go wrong for Slavia was a grand piano to fall from the sky and demolish their dug out with coach Martinovich still in it. After witnessing this abject capitulation it's a release he may well have welcomed.

This was a truly wonderful performance by Energetik, and the biggest win any side has recorded in the league this season. The side showed great maturity in turning the unjust dismissal of Bakić to their advantage, rather than sulking about it. Some of the attacking play in the second half was quite mesmerising. For those who feel we should maybe bit a bit more realistic in our ambitions for the season, I will just point them to the video of this performance. On our day, there isn't a better attacking side in the country.

The trick for Vladimir, Anatoly Pavlovich and the other coaches is to try and work to ensure that these days come about far more often. The head coach of famously few words will have enjoyed his birthday cognac and cigar on Saturday looking at the video of that game, and rightly so. After the game, pressball.by reported him as saying:

"Good game. I am grateful to the kids that they did not flinch being a man down, played their football, fulfilled all their duties. We beat, I think, a worthy team, so I'm grateful to all the guys.  Today we played in the minority. I repeat, the team does not consist of Bakich, of Yakhshiboev. They, yes, are good players, but there are guys who will worthily come out and play. And let's see how it goes."

With half of the season completed, Energetik-BGU are fifth in the table and just a point behind Shakhtyor in second. Having finished twelfth last season, this is a great opening half,  which has featured memorable victories over some of the country's best sides, and Neman away excepted, few poor performances. I think we should look forward to more of the same if we can keep hold of Yakshiboev, about whom many rumours are circulating. The transfer window opening on July 1 will be an anxious time for a club like ours with many players on loan and little purchase if a player's parent club wants to sell them on. We will just have to wait and see what if any movement there is and enjoy this particular moment.

Yes, we won't play a side as bad as Slavia every week, but few if any teams in the league could have lived with that display on Friday. Confident in defence, dominant in midfield and endlessly inventive and accurate in the final third, if we are to play better than that this season, I personally cannot wait to see it. We will go next to Borisov to face a humbled BATE, in very good spirits.

Here's the Highlights. I recommend them.

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @jonblackwood 

Vysheyshaya Liga Match Preview: 15th Round, June 26th 2020 vs Slavia Mozyr

Having had a run of Sunday and late Saturday games, this weekend sees us take part in the league's Friday curtain-raiser, in Molodechno, against Slavia Mozyr. The visitors sit in eleventh place in the table, with eighteen points from fourteen games, and have been consistently inconsistent throughout the campaign.  Amongst the English-speaking group of fans of this league, that has mushroomed online since March, it's fair to say that Slavia aren't the most popular side. They are widely seen as boring, perhaps a little unfairly. As we'll see, there's a fair number of characters in the team, and they are not without their qualities.

Slavia's home-town, Mozyr is in South Eastern Belarus, and they are the only side from that part of the country in the league this season. Unusually, there is no team from Belarus' second-biggest city Gomel, with FC and Lokomotiv both trying to climb out of the second tier. The nearest team geographically is Belshina, but there's not really a rivalry there. Volna, from Pinsk, a supposed rival for Mozyr to being 'capital' of the country's marshy south, also play in the Pershaya Liga. So, Slavia are flying the south's freak flag alone, for the time being.

Mozyr, like Gomel, was badly affected in 1986 by the Chernobyl disaster. Chernobyl is just over sixty miles away to the south-east, and both cities declined badly in subsequent years, although the population has begun to rebuild itself in the twenty first century.  The Pripyat River, running through the town and featuring a large port, is still badly contaminated by the radioactive fall out. However there's plenty manufacturing jobs, an art college, and a heavy rock festival, so it's not all bad.

Mozyr is dominated by one of the most important oil refineries you've never heard of- the Druzhba pipeline, where Russian crude oil bisects between a line running North West to Poland and South East to Ukraine. Druzhba is a sensitive piece of infrastructure which occasionally pops up in the news when the Russians are threatening to cut European oil supplies off. The refinery company's Dali-esque squiggle logo dominates the front of Slavia's shirts, which are so sponsor-heavy that they look more like scarlet and black motor racing jackets.

Mikhail's At the Wheel

Slavia were founded in 1987 and play at the Yusnost stadium. The club has had some historical success, winning both the league and the Belarusian cup twice. This season they came close to the cup final, beating an unconvincing BATE 1-0 at home but being edged out 0-2 in the semi-final's second leg.

In the last decade, Slavia have been promoted and relegated twice, last returning to the top tier in 2018. In the times that they have been in the Vysheyshaya Liga during the last ten years, they have never risen higher than mid-table and usually finish up between there and the bottom of the league.

Manager Mikhail Martinovich

The manager is Mikhail Martinovich, and he's been in charge since January 2018, with Maksim Sukhofeev as assistant. The coaching staff oversaw a successful promotion campaign in their first season, after long playing careers in the Belarusian first and second tiers (both played for a season at Zvezda, as Energetik used to be called, about seventeen years ago). Martinovich favours quite an attacking approach, having rotated between a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 formation, the last being the most popular. The club don't seem hugely wealthy, so have a fairly extensive youth system, which together with a few gnarled first teamers coming to the end of their careers, and a couple of stylish imports from Ghana, makes for an interesting mix to the squad. Slavia, for a relatively small club, are also very well supported. They have a noisy and passionate group of fans who make a heck of a din in the Yusnost's open bowl, and I'll expect that they will make themselves heard on Friday.

The Yin and Yang of Slavia's Existence

Winger Francis Narh runs at the BATE defence : Slavia won this league encounter 2-1.

Fans are never quite sure which Slavia will turn up on the day. They have already beaten BATE twice this season, in three games, and won three of their first four this season, including an eye-catching defeat of champions Dinamo Brest on their own patch. Since that really great start, however, performances have been patchy at best. They somehow conspired to lose 1-3 at home to Andrei Razin's appalling FC Minsk side, and more recently were completely outclassed by a resurgent Neman Grodno at the Yusnost, by the same scoreline. Since early April their three wins in the last ten games have come against the league's lesser lights.

Their two games against the bottom sides perhaps illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of Slavia best. In Bobruisk, luckless Belshina raced into an early two goal lead, thanks entirely to poor Slavia defending. However, this is a side that never gives up and will keep playing to the last kick of the ball, no matter how hopeless their position. Eventually, in that game, Slavia were to prevail 3-2, courtesy of Sergei Turanok taking his weekly gaffe-dump, and a delightful deflection-aided chip from Francis Narh.

If that performance showed how difficult it is to grind Slavia into submission, last weekend's match at the Yusnost saw luckless visitors Smolevichi beat themselves, frankly. The struggling visitors could and should have been 4-0 up after twenty minutes, but poor finishing and one fine save kept the scoreline blank. Slavia are slow starters in games, most of the time, which I am sure Vladimir will have noted.

At the beginning of the second half, Ukrainian forward Maksym Slyusar, in and out of the tam and a bit of a flat-track bully, missed a sitter at full stretch, causing signs of an ominous meltdown in the dugout. Martinovich, his face dark with rage, stormed off and into his portakabin office, slamming the door. Posterity hasn't recorded how many office toys and Slavia-branded novelties were rage-shredded behind closed doors. Eventually, his side prevailed, via a very dubious penalty and a powerful header from Tetteh. As per usual, the naive Smolevichi deserved so much more from a game in which their opponents were alarmingly poor, but somehow won.

Contradictory Characters

Martinovich has plenty of experience in the goalkeeping department; his choice is between 37 year old Mikhail Baranovski, who has recently lost his place to Nikolai Romanyuk, a year younger. Romanyuk was a winter capture from gubbins village outfit Gorodeya, where he had spent three seasons; it's his second spell at the Yusnost. Romanyuk has done OK since stepping up in the last two games.

Nedashkovskiy : Buffoon

Martinovich favours a back four, with the normal centre-backs being the Russian Igor Potapov, and the eccentric bald eminence, Yuri Nedashkovskiy. Almost supernaturally fit, Yuri is fond of doing cartwheels after a goal has been scored, causing disconsolate opposing defenders to scatter in all directions as the ludicrous alopecian beanpole goes head over heels in the box. The clowning masks a tough and experienced centre-half, who isn't the quickest, but is a good organiser and hard in the tackle. Ukrainian Yuri Pantya is the regular left back, a steady enough player, who started out with Bukovina in his home country, before moving on to a spell in the Russian second tier. Veteran and former international Andrei Chukley is the club's only recognised right back and is a threat, with three goals from eight games. However, he's been used sparingly this season, and in a slightly more advanced role.

Shevchenko : Dreadlocks

Defensive midfielder Gleb Shevchenko, who at 21 has been at Slavia all his life, is instantly recognisable as the only player in the Vysheyshaya Liga with dreadlocks. His bouncing trellises can be seen breaking up opposing attacks mainly, which he's good at, but in the games I've seen his passing has been wayward, at best. He has promise but a lot of developing still to do.

Right midfielder Aleksandr Kotlyarov is another stalwart of the side, having played in every one of Slavia's games this season. He's a utility player, having featured in every midfield position this season from left to right. His efforts tends to go a little unnoticed but he works hard, and will be walking a bit tentatively in Molodechno; one more booking will earn him a suspension. Kotlyarov is in his third spell at the Yusnost, having also had spells at Gomel, Torpedo and most recently top Latvian club Jelgava.

Tetteh ; Talisman

Slavia have players worth watching going forward. Dennis Tetteh, the Ghanaian striker, has been at the club for two seasons now and is a very popular and well-recognised figure in Mozyr, seemingly. He's quite quick and has great strength on the ball, although he will be disappointed a little by his goal tally this season, last weekend's effort against Smolevichi being his first of the campaign.  He's had a good run of games recently after missing a fair few at the beginning of the season. Tetteh's fellow Ghanaian, winger Francis Narh, has been a bit quiet of late but looked really a terrific player earlier in the season, with a great touch and vision. It is interesting that Slavia have struggled a little in parallel to with Narh going off the boil, slightly. Since leaving Africa, Narh, a Ghanaian under-20 international, has had great experience in the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Turkey. Still only 26, he is currently Slavia's top scorer with four goals.

Alongside Narh, striker Nikita Melnikov is worth keeping an eye on. He missed four games in the last six- presumably injured- but he made his return last weekend against Smolevichi. Before his absences, the Russian striker had bagged a couple of goals, and will be looking to overhaul Narh quickly in the club charts. This is his first spell in Belarus, having signed for Slavia in 2019 from Russian third tier side Saturn Ramenskoe.

Narh and Melnikov : Line-Up

Time to Step Up

We've seen that Slavia have an interesting squad and are more than capable of beating anyone in this league, if they turn up with the right mindset. They're an unusual group of players with varied and wide-ranging experience, and the squad is well-balanced in terms of age. The strange mix of characters reminds me a little of our squad. I may be in a minority of Vysheyshaya Liga fans, but I quite enjoy watching them. It's the uncertainty that gets you, and it's also great to hear a noisy and passionate support backing their team. The number of first-team players that have gone back to Slavia after spells elsewhere is a sign of a well-run and tight-knit place, that looks after people.


That said, this is a game we simply must win. If it's hard to predict what to expect from Slavia, then the same can be said for us. Energetik have been on a poor run in the last four games and have failed to score in our last three. Whilst disappointing, we won't have a better chance than to press the re-set button against a team that has struggled against all but the weakest teams in the last ten games. We noted that Slavia start slowly, so we need a quick and focused start, looking to put a couple of goals on them before they've settled into the game.

I've given up commenting on possible tactics as it seems that Vladimir will continue to play 3-5-2 until the next Ice Age, and then probably for a considerable time after that. This implies that we will try and dominate Slavia in the middle of the park which is quite possible, as I think it's their weakest department. I am really looking forward to seeing Nosko take on the dreadlocks and I think there's only one winner in that contest.

The one conundrum centres around Yudchits. I think he did pretty well at wing back against Dinamo, but there may be a thought to pairing him with Yak again, and moving someone else into that role. Beyond that I can only see us going with Vladimir's goalkeeping tombola and the same ten outfielders.

The only game that we have really been poor in, in our recent barren run, has been at home to Belshina. I am still a bit chafed that we sat off a dreadful Dinamo side so much last weekend. But as this is the last game of the first half of the season, there's every incentive for us to go out there and win; to end the poor run, to secure a top six place at the half way stage that I think we deserve, and to lay a positive foundation for the second half of the season, which begins with a hard match at the Borisov arena. To go over to face BATE with some hope, I really feel this is a game we need maximum points from. Over to you lads.

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @jonblackwood


  

  

Vysheyshaya Liga Match Report: 14th Round, June 20th 2020, Dinamo Minsk 0-0 Energetik-BGU

Muted Entrances

This game was a muted, hushed affair after the concerning and frightening events that had unfolded across Belarus on Friday. The crowd at the game seemed small, and had little to say for themselves- not that the players were to offer many talking points. In the wider scheme of things, the game this weekend seemed as an afterthought and so low was the quality that the players' minds also seemed to be on other things.


Vladimir again rolled his goalkeeping roulette wheel and this week the little white ball stuck on Sadovsky's square. I wish the coach would work out who he wants to go with and give them a run of games- this constant changing every week can't be anything other than unsettling for the defence. As predicted, big Yudchits dropped back to a wing back position, and Sovpel was again unable to win a place in the starting line up, with Umarov continuing in the middle of the park. Yak is still with us, so he turned out up front alongside the returning Dušan Bakić. As predicted Vladimir persisted with a 3-5-2 system to counter that of opposite number Leonid Kuchuk. Dinamo, perhaps indicating the importance they attached to the game, had rested quite a few players, with Plotnikov replaced by young Shapko in goal, his first appearance of the season. Quite a few other fringe first teamers and reserves turned out for them, but Kuchuk's spine of Goropevšek, Bručić, Klimowich and Shikavka was still there.

Festival of Incompetence

The game was played at a soporific pace, only occasionally bursting into life; a game between two teams of gluttons after a fourteen course meal would have been more lively.We had a couple of half chances early on. Yakshiboev, who was more like himself yesterday, fired narrowly over from a Bakić knock-down in the first minute; the Montenegrin himself headed wide from a Yudcihts cross, being put under pressure by Shvetsov. These were fleetingly promising signs.

The first real chance, though, came at the other end on around ten minutes. A Dinamo "attack" was on the point of breaking down on our right touchline when a dithering Umarov was robbed of possession by Kazlov. The balding no. 71 drove towards the edge of the area and fed Shikavka, who immediately laid the ball off to the onrushing Ivan Bakhar. It was a slick move that completed bisected our startled defence. Bakhar hit a low shot across the face of goal but it maybe lacked a bit of power; Sadovsky did very well to push the ball away with his left glove and gather the rebound smartly. Bakhar perhaps didn't realise the time he had, and snatched at this very good chance.

A tedious, attritional game lazily chased it's own tail aimlessly for the next ten minutes or so. Slowly Energetik began to realise that they weren't facing Barcelona, and gradually upped the tempo. Kazlov was robbed of the ball at the edge of his area, after stumbling carelessly into trouble, and Umarov's stinging, dipping drive startled Shapko in the Dinamo goal; he grasped the ball unconvincingly at the second attempt. From a free kick shortly afterwards, Yudchits played in a perfect, angled cross, which the leaden footed Dinamo defence left to one another. Big Miroshnikov met the ball very well, and the centre-back was unlucky to see his header slip just wide of Shapko's right hand post.

The chance of the first period came on the half hour mark. Hesitant and uncertain passing between Shkurdyuk and Nosko saw our captain robbed of the ball half way inside our own half. With our defence hopelessly compromised and trailing behind, Bakhar fed Shikavka this time. Sadovskiy came out bravely from his line but he needn't have bothered. The effort from Dinamo's no. 9 was pathetic, an under-hit backpass that sclaffed wide of the right hand post. It's the kind of shot one would have expected from someone wearing carpet slippers in the back garden, and pretty much summed up Dinamo's efforts to break the deadlock in the game. A further effort from the misfiring centre-forward a few minutes later, after some ping-pong in our penalty box, boomeranged dismally off his right shinpad and barely made the goal-line, ten yards wide of the target.

The Unwinding Gramophone

There was a brief flurry at the beginning of the second half. Klimovich, who had had a quiet first half, sent in a powerful right footed drive from thirty yards that dropped just wide of Sadovsky's left hand post, and from the resulting corner he found space in our defence to head the ball unchallenged, into the side netting. But Dinamo were unable to sustain this brief surge in their energy levels. It was to be our big moment, so nearly, next.

Energetik had won a corner on the Dinamo left. Yakshiboev sent over a perfect ball skimming head height, and Nosko, lurking unmarked at the back post, met it powerfully from close range.. Young Shapko in goal made an instinctive save in front of his face, turning the stinging header onto the bar, from where it was hacked away to safety by Goropevšek, just as the lurking Miroshnikov closed in for the kill. We are paying dearly for the lucky streak we had a few weeks back. This is the fourth time the boys have hit the woodwork in little over an hour of play stretching back to the Belshina game last week.

Atemeng came on for a tired looking Bakić. Bakhar then stung Sadovsky's palms with a curling long range effort that was creeping just inside the top right hand corner. Yakshiboev fired over narrowly from the edge of the area. The game began to unwind dismally like an old gramophone running out of revs. Dinamo seemed to be having a competition amongst themselves, as to who could  produce the worst set piece. For a side reliant on scoring from set pieces, they really aren't very good at them. The ref, peevish with boredom, began to break up an already disjointed game with fussy and in some cases dubious free kicks. Free kicks cleared the bar and were last seen bouncing down the ring road in the general direction of Vitebsk. Others barely cleared our wall's shin-pads. One dreaded a late, undeserved winner from Dinamo but they never looked remotely capable of making anything of the many promising dead ball situations they found themselves in.

With about ten minutes to go Atemeng had our last decent chance. He's a frustrating player; massive in stature, yet never jumps for anything, and far too slow with the ball on the ground ever to create space for himself. A little interchange with Yak at the edge of the Dinamo area, as their defence obligingly opened up to give the big Ghanaian a sporting chance, saw him hit a weak shot, falling over, onto the roof of the net. He should have taken the ball forward further and obliged Shapko to at least come out and meet him. but he has no confidence whatever. The Pershaya Liga or a new country altogether awaits, one feels.

The last moment of this dismal affair came with two minutes remaining. Dinamo were awarded yet another free kick just to the left of our area. Ukrainian defender Artem Suhotsky, perhaps despairing at the incompetence of his forwards, stepped up to take the kick, and finally Dinamo had one on target. Left footed, his shot bent dangerously over our wall and dipped towards the mid left hand corner of the net, but Sadovsky did well to lunge across and beat the ball away to safety.

That was it. Thankfully.

My eyes, My eyes

This was an awful spectacle between one side on a bad run, and another too fearful of the consequences of losing. We wrote in the preview of Dinamo being haunted by the ghosts of a more successful past played on bigger and more challenging stages; the ghosts of Malofeev's 1982 heroes wouldn't dignify themselves to haunt the present side. They're not worthy of the famous shirts they wear.

They may have the backlit fashion shoots, professionally sculpted facial hair, big wages by Belarusian professional standards, turn up yawning to training in branded tracksuit and flip-flops, and the cachet of playing for a club most football fans have heard of. But they are square-footed, and chicken-hearted, and have no idea how to play a watchable version of football. There's no passion, desire, unity at all in that side; badly oiled ball bearings in a malfunctioning engine. They may bludgeon the likes of Smolevichi and Slavia into submission, but they are in no danger of winning anything meaningful this season. I'm not sure what wealthy owner Yuri Chyzh thinks he's getting for his investment. Whatever it is, it certainly isn't entertainment.

As for us, the positives from coming through this grim, tedious affair unscathed is that we kept a clean sheet, Sadovskiy had a good game in goal, and if only we had believed a little bit more in our chances of success, I am sure we'd have won. We had our chances. Even on a bad run, we have managed to stay, deservedly, three points clear of them in the table. Moreover, most of us would have settled for a point before this game kicked off. I hope, however, that we are more ambitious against Dinamo when they visit Molodechno later in the campaign. They are certainly not worthy of the respect that we showed them in yesterday's match.

However, three games without a goal and four games that have yielded just two points are concerning stats. As fans we can see the anxiety in our forwards, the longer the goal-less run continues. Our next game in Molodechno is against Slavia Mozyr, who stuttered to an unconvincing win over unlucky Smolevichi on Friday. Now sitting sixth in the table, just three points behind second after Sunday's results, we have to work out how to somehow-anyhow- record a win as the first half of the season draws to a close.

tl;dr? Click on this link and I guarantee that even the most intractable insomniac will be snoring loudly before this highlights package has finished

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @jonblackwood 

Vysheyshaya Liga Match Preview: 14th Round, June 20th 2020 vs Dinamo Minsk

Derby That Isn't a Derby

Those of us who've taken up the Energetik banner in recent months have been looking forward to the big Minsk "derby" for some time. I put the word derby in inverted commas, as whilst it may be a big game for us, amongst our opposition we induce little more than a shrug of the shoulders, or patronising disdain. The only reason Dinamo fans may feel a minor twinge of local rivarly is because we're in the same city and for now, the same league. In respect of history, tradition, finance, and venue, this is not so much a derby as a grotesque mismatch. It's Liverpool against Southport; West Ham against Dagenham & Redbridge; Hibs against Edinburgh University.

Minsk Football Fan Map by Tadesuz Giczan (twitter: @TadeuszGiczan)

A map produced by student of Belarussian politics and society, Tadeusz Giczan, and shared by the estimable @pavelsleftfoot on twitter, gives a really clear visualisation of the disparity between the clubs. His map shows Dinamo dominating the attention of fans in the Belarusian capital, a city of just under two million people. The next two biggest clubs, and Dinamo's historical rivals- Partizan and Torpedo- are either defunct or in abeyance. Then there's Krumkachy, fast becoming the Dulwich Hamlet-style fashionable avant-gardists of Minsk football, then the flatpack IKEA clubs (Isloch & FCM) not long formed, then....us.

If Only Yesterday Could be Our Tomorrow

Dinamo's healthy conceit of themselves is well-founded, being the most successful club in Belarusian football history. The "Dynamo" sports concept, designed to build a federation of physical exercise and sports clubs across the newly consolidated Soviet Union, was signed off by Felix Dzerzhinsky (who also found time to found the KGB) in 1923. Four years later, the Minsk branch of Dzerzhinsky's idea was founded and throughout the Soviet period, the club had a close relationship to the police and secret services.

Legend Malofeev opens the club shop, desperately trying to ignore a blue dragon behind him

This is a club founded in a city destroyed in World War Two, a city where over eighty percent of the population was killed or displaced; a city rebuilt in the fifties and sixties, and then expanded remarkably under Pyotr Masherov in the seventies. Two years after Masherov's mysterious death, Dinamo reached the peak of their achievement. Under legendary manager Eduard Malofeev, they won the Soviet league in 1982 with a free-flowing, entertaining style of football. Malofeev, who is still at the club as head of youth, still swears by the romantic ideals that took Dinamo to the title, and him personally to manage the Soviet national team later in the eighties.

Dinamo Minsk: Champions of the USSR, 1982

The throaty roars of success from nearly forty years ago have long since faded. Sure, Dinamo dominated the early post-independence years in Belarus, winning six titles, but their last success was in 2004. Dinamo now have to subsist in much-reduced and much shrunken circumstances in the Belarusian league, where they haven't been able to land a glove on BATE's dominance in the last fifteen years. Dinamo have come agonisingly close on a couple of occasions- the last time being the 2017 season, where they lost out on a first title in over a decade, on goal difference.

They don't even have traditional rivalries to enjoy now; they have a cheerful detestation of their Borisov rivals, simply on the basis that BATE are successful and Dinamo are not, but with every passing year it seems less likely that Partizan (folded 2012 during the collapse of Vladimir Romanov's footballing empire) will re-emerge meaningfully, whilst plans to jump start the cryogenically frozen Torpedo (disappeared last season) have yet come to nothing. Dinamo have been a constant in the complicated stories of collapse, re-naming, franchising and re-formations of Minsk football clubs, but this stability will be of little consolation to a dwindling fanbase missing old rivalries and certainly starved of success in the last few years.

A Stuttering Ending and a (sort of) New Beginning

Dinamo had a notably poor start to the season under former manager Sergei Gurenko. Having just sneaked into fourth place last season three points ahead of Isloch, the manager was under pressure to deliver a fast start and a much more serious challenge for the championship. The cup went out the window in early march, with defeat home and away in the quarter finals to BATE, who whined noiselessly past Dinamo in a 5-3 aggregate win.

Gorodeya : Gurenko's gubbins Waterloo

Alas! Gurenko's side were sluggish, disjointed and, charitably, mediocre in their first few games. The league season began with a dismal single-goal home defeat to Rukh Brest. Further ignominy awaited the following week, with another rotten performance seeing Dinamo subside 2-3 to Andrei Razin's hopeless collage of jobbers and makeweights at FC Minsk, a game characterised by spectacular goals and terrible defending. A stale win over ultra-conservative Torpedo at the Dinamo stadium offered a little temporary respite.  However, a single goal defeat away at gubbins village outfit Gorodeya seems to have sealed Gurenko's fate, after his expensively assembled squad looked utterly clueless as to how to respond to the villagers' early goal. It was a matter of time until the in-charge-but-not-in-command Gurenko left, and he did so after a final win in front of a pitiful crowd at home to Neman Grodno.

Dinamo, owned by Yuri Chyzh, one of the wealthiest businessmen in the country, clearly decided that experience and a steady disciplinarian hand was needed for an underperforming squad, and sought comfort in the familiarity of Leonid Kuchuk.

Head Coach Leonid Kuchuk

Belarus football seems to be a village, where everyone knows everyone else, and where everyone has worked with everyone else, at some stage. Kuchuk, now sixty, had his first serious managerial gig as assistant to our very own coaching 'supervisor', Anatoly Yurevich, at defunct Lokomotiv Minsk. With this duo in charge, the club reached the final of the 2003 Belarusian cup, where, oddly, they lost to Dinamo.

After leaving a sinking Lokomotiv, Kuchuk became manager for sinister Transnistrian club FC Sherriff, the seemingly permanent champions of Moldova. Kuchuk duly won everything there was to win in a five year spell, impressive on paper until one remembers that Sherriff would win that league with a waxwork of Elvis in the dugout. Since that early spell of success in Tiraspol he's been back twice as sporting director, in between mixed stints in charge of various clubs in Russia and Ukraine. Having been appointed on 22 April, Kuchuk decided to make his latest tenure a family affair, raiding hipsters Krumkachy for his son Alexei, and appointing him assistant manager within 48 hours, perhaps tilting at a future dynastic succession.

The Dinamo fans didn't seem overwhelmed with enthusiasm by Kuchuk's appointment, with some regarding him as a throwback, and bringing an uninspiring, dour style of play. The grumblings grew louder as he lost his first game in charge at home to Slutsk, before another 1-2 reverse away to (then) struggling Dinamo Brest. This left Dinamo in thirteenth. In both these opening disappointments, a glowering Kuchuk paced the touchline like a wearied Red Army Captain surveying yet another batch of thoroughly unsuitable conscripts. In the Slutsk game, Vitaly Pavlov's impish side and their light hearted enjoyment of a perfectly executed counter-attacking plan, exposed Dinamo's slow, fear-filled, leaden display pitilessly.

Since then matters have improved. Dinamo have lost just once in the last five games- a single goal defeat at home to in-form Shakhtyor, who had to work quite hard for their win; a towsy, hard-fought draw in Vitebsk and successes against the league's lesser lights have steadily improved the club's position, to the extent that a win over us this weekend could see Dinamo move into the top four for the first time this campaign. Kuchuk has clearly decided to dispense with any notion of entertainment in pursuit of a quick climb up the table. The win in Bobruisk was noteworthy mainly for the generosity of the league's bottom club, but last weekend's single goal win over a stubborn Slavia Mozyr was one of the dullest games of the season. Evgeny Shikavka's wonderfully executed bicycle kick for the edge of the area, for the game's only goal, gave the fans something to talk about, but the second half was turgid and attritional - football as white noise. Kuchuk is taking the Alan Durban line, clearly: "If it's entertainment you want, go and watch a bunch of clowns".     

Coming to the Boil at Exactly the Wrong Time

Dinamo's progress has been steady in the last few weeks and it may be that with Energetik's form heading in the opposite direction, we're visiting the Dinamo stadium at exactly the wrong time. I think that's too pessimistic a view, however; Dinamo are more than beatable.

Maksim Plotnikov goes up against Gareth Bale for Belarus, at the Cardiff City stadium. The Welsh won the game 1-0.

In goal Maksim Plotnikov has made the no.49 jersey all his own this season. The young keeper, breaking into the national team squad and at the beginning of a very promising career, has seemed one of the better goalies in the division; his handling and positioning is good, he is comfortable in the air, and he marshalls his defence quite well. Plotnikov made an important save low down to his left last weekend to keep Dinamo's noses ahead of Slavia's. Despite reasonably consistent performances Kuchuk has chosen to fire a shot across Plotnikov's bows, by signing experienced Russian keeper Yevgeny Pomazan from Baltika Kaliningrad in the last fortnight. It's not clear whether the manager is displeased with his first choice goalkeeper, or whether he feels he needs a bit more of a serious challenge to his place.

Slovenian centre-back Miha Goropevšek

Kuchuk, like Vladimir and Anatoly Pavlovich, has favoured a 3-5-2 formation since taking over. The defence is organised around the gangling Slovenian centre-back Miha Goropevšek. The captain, Igor Shitov, is a defender with enormous experience, including 66 caps for his country, but he's featured a bit less this season. Young Maksim Shvestsov, with his lank Kevin-Keegan tendils, has been a regular face lately; a dogged if unspectacular defender. Serbian under-21 defender Dominik Dinga has dropped from favour slightly since being made a fool of by Nicolaescu at Vitebsk. Karlo Bručić, a left sided defensive midfielder or left back from Zagreb, has returned to the starting eleven in the last two games and looks a composed and calm player on the ball, with a fierce tackle on him.

Even when they were performing poorly under Gurenko, the Dinamo defence has never leaked too many goals, and in the recent five-game run has conceded just twice. They're a hard side to break down then but with a narrow back three, have vulnerabilities down the flanks. We'll need Tweh, Mawatu and Girs at their best to try and capitalise on that.

Dinamo have some really good options in midfield and up front, which made their clogged, over-wrought attacking earlier in the season so frustrating to watch. There's a lack of pace in the side which Kuchuk will need to look at when the Belarusian window opens in July. Nonetheless, there are threats in every part of their side, from Belgian/Brazilian talisman, the midfielder Danilo, to the young Serbian under-21 international, Marko Pavlovski. It was Pavlovski who was able to innovate with a pretty unpromising awkward ball to set up Evgeny Shikavka's spectacular overhead winner against Slavia last weekend.

Perhaps the understanding between Shikavka, an out an out centre-forward, and clever attacker Vladislav Klimovich, signed in January from Torpedo, that has benefited Dinamo most this season. Shikavka leads the goal scoring charts with five goals and is tall and powerful, and able to hold the ball up well. For his part, Klimovich has four assists to go with his brace of goals, and reads the game very well indeed.

Vladislav Klimovich in full flight during Dinamo's 4-0 win against Belshina

Energising Energetik

Energetik need to pick up quickly to avoid idling away into mid-table irrelevance. The remaining matches of this first half of the season, this game at the Dinamo stadium, and next in Molodechno against Slavia Mozyr, should yield four points. I would take a point from this game in the expectation of beating Slavia at home, but it's becoming a habit to expect surprises from our young squad.

It's to be hoped Miroshnikov is fit enough to return. There's been a lot of chat on the Energetik English language coverage of trying to change the formation, but given that Kuchuk has favoured 3-5-2 in his tenure at Dinamo thus far, I doubt Vladimir, fixated on the similar formation, will do anything other than counter it. It's an advantage at least, through Anatoly Pavlovich, to know how Kuchuk thinks as a coach and how to set up to frustrate him. I do feel that through the pace of Mawatu and Girs down the flanks, we can certainly supply enough ammunition to ask them serious questions at the back.

Is it goodnight from him?

The big unknown this week is what's to become of Yakshiboev. Rumours this week suggest that he may be about to be sold by his parent club in Uzbekistan, to Standard Liège in Belgium, and if these were rumours that reached the player, that may account for his uncharacterisitcally listless performance last weekend against Belshina. I've loved watching Yak until the last couple of games so if he's to go, then best of luck- it will be very interesting to see how he does in the Belgian league. Hopefully, however, he can see out the first half of the season and remind us of why he's attracting interest at this level to begin with. If Yak is left out, or already flying business class with Belavia to Belgium, then Yudchits and Bakić will be the obvious pairing again.

I just feel things have gone a little stale in the last couple of games, and that other teams have begun to work us out. Perhaps we can move around some of our players into different roles, or bring in some of the boys who haven't had a chance yet this season. If we are not to change tactically then a surprise or two in personnel may help us get things moving again. This is such a talented young group at the club and it would be a shame to fritter away the start that's been made to the season. If we really are aiming for the top four then probably Dinamo are our biggest rivals for that last European place; in this context a win would be a really significant result for us.

Dinamo's games have been reliably dull and it is difficult to build up a real atmosphere in their 97% empty yawning bowl of a ground. Slavia's diehards, amongst the most noisy and raucous in the league, did their best last weekend, but most of the time there's the kind of atmosphere associated with bacteria germinating in an empty fridge. Maybe, in the silence, our little tangerine-and-purple mice can roar. 

Dinamo's "Dinamo Olympic' stadium, refurbished in 2016 

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @jonblackwood

Vysheyshaya Liga Match Report: 13th Round, June 14th 2020, Energetik-BGU 0-1 Belshina Bobruisk

Vladimir Belyavskiy & The Case of the Missing Montenegrin

It had been a poor weekend to date in the Vysheyshaya Liga; you know it's been a bad one when Gorodeya's match had been the best to watch by a distance, before our kick-off. Saturday's games in particular had been a bleak tundra of stultifyingly boring dross; think Tony Pulis versus Sam Allardyce on a disused roundabout in Swindon.

However, Vladimir's tinkering and little surprises always promise to entertain. Lesko returned in goal to replace Sadovskiy, with Yudchits returning to take the place of Bakić. The Montenegrin forward had had his two best games of the season to date against Shakhtyor and Vitebsk, so either he was ill, hadn't trained well, or just needed a rest. Yudchits resumed his partnership with Yakshiboev up front and the team, as always, was set up in the 3-5-2 formation with Girs and Mawatu as wing-backs. Umarov kept his place in the starting line-up, ahead of Sovpel. As predicted Belshina replaced the gaffe-prone skipper Turanok with Kharitonovich in goal, and remodelled the defence completely, with experienced striker Leonid Kovel taking the armband. 

Knock on Wood(work) 

The game, with Energetik in an unfamiliar if smart all-blue third kit, began at a good tempo, if offering few clear cut chances. The pattern of the game began to emerge; we had a lot of the ball, but little end product. For their part Belshina looked to hit on the counter attack and Kovel in particular looked threatening in the early stages.

Tweh shot over from the edge of the box early on in the game, and the little Liberian attacker was involved in our first near miss around the ten minute mark. Svirepa lofted a long ball forward from the half way line and Tweh was perfectly positioned at the edge of the box to run onto it. Getting goalside of his marker, Tweh burst into the area and lifted the ball over Kharitonovich who had been a bit slow to come off his line. The ball struck the bar squarely and bounced back into play without anyone on hand to follow up. Yakshiboev tried to keep things going but was shepherded out of play.

The first real warning sign that Belshina hadn't just come as extras in this drama, came around the twenty minute mark with a rapid breakaway. Girs lost the ball in their area and it was played out quickly to Kovel, lurking on the half way line by the left touchline. With a trademark quick turn the forward brushed off Svirepa with embarrassing ease and burst into a powerful run, surging through a gap between Shkurdyuk and the retreating no. 15, holding off challenges from both. At the edge of the area Kovpel laid the ball off, and with the Energetik rearguard dishevelled and disorientated, received the ball back via Glebko. From about fifteen yards he hit a low, powerful drive which Lesko did very well to block with his shins; the ball looped in the air but another Belshina attacker sclaffed it high and wide from the re-bound. This was a let-off, and Lesko berated the back three for their carelessness for a good while afterwards.

Energetik almost responded in the best way, half way through the first half. Scrappy play saw the visitors lose the ball on the half way line, and Umarov was played in down their right. The Uzbek built up a great head of steam, hit the bye-line and crossed low in behind the Belshina defence. Yudchits, again goal-side of their no. 15, met the ball perfectly and bundled it into the net amidst a collision with Kharitonovich. Unfortunately, the goal was given offside- subsequent photos show it to be a highly marginal decision, and unlucky for Yudchits. Linesmen tend to err on the side of caution, for fear of allowing an offside goal to stand, and we fell victim to this. As it transpired this was a critical moment in the game.

Yakshiboev had cut a largely anonymous figure but reminded us all he was playing with ten minutes to go until half time. Intricate work and interplay between Tweh and Mawatu down the dressing room touchline saw Tweh play a perfect cross towards Yakshiboev. He rose and met the ball quite well, but his header fell just the wrong side of the post, doing nothing more than upset Kharitonovich's water bottle.

The last action of the half saw Energetik have a little let off of our own. A Glebko free kick taken near the edge of the area bounced awkwardly in the box and ran up Shkurdyuk's body. Accidentally, in the half second before it cleared, the ball struck his hand, and the visitors protested for a penalty. As the saying goes, "you've seen them given", particularly by some of the hyper-fussy refs in this league, but on this occasion common sense prevailed. Phew.

Ch-Ch-Changes

The first half hadn't been bad, but we had had warnings, and clearly enough was enough for Vladimir. Displaying a boldness that he is not normally associated with, he withdrew the disappointing Umarov in favour of Sovpel, whilst the giant Atemeng replaced Miroshnikov. Miroshnikov is the best of our back three so I can only assume he picked up a knock. With Atemeng moved up front to play off Yakshiboev, Yudchits dropped back into midfield, with Nosko back further into defence. Before the players had the time to tune into this game of footballing chairs, Belshina were ahead.

Nice work by Rekish, Nechaev and Glebko down the Energetik left saw the ball fed back to Nechaev just inside the Energetik box. He floated an excellent ball over the top of our defence and found Kovel, largely unmarked, at the far post. The big no. 9 nodded down and past the exposed Lesko to open the scoring, in front of Belshina's small knot of diehards. Kovel had very cleverly sneaked into the big gap between Svirepa, who seemed to lose sight of him, and Yudchits, still trying to adjust to an unfamiliar new role at wing-back.


Hope was maintained however by the fact that Belshina had squandered several leads this season. We pressed forward and just after the hour mark a slight foul on Tweh set up a very dangerous opportunity at the edge of the Belshina box, left of the centre of Kharitonovich's goal. Tweh, taking the kick himself, sent a beautiful right foot curler over the wall and...smack off the bar again. Belshina, their defence swaying like a police line trying to contain an angry mob, dug in desperately. Atemeng tried to play the ball in but the shot was blocked. The ball fell to Yakshiboev but a poor first touch allowed a desperate defender to hack it clear. Still no goal. A sinking feeling of Gorodeya began to settle in the stomach.

With twenty minutes left Energetik probed again. Neat play between Mawatu and Tweh saw the ball fall to Haïk, who had not long replaced Girs in the middle of the park. The lanky striker hit a powerful low shot that was blocked brilliantly by the on-rushing Kharitonovich, and the ball bounced out from his body. Mawatu picked it up on the left, teasing the Belshina defence with some step overs before a deft flick in the air to Haïk again, just at the edge of the box. The big Armenian dived bravely to make the header, which the sprawling Kharitonovich kept out with some help from his left hand post. Unfortunately Haïk hurt himself badly, with his cheekbone crashing off the back of a Belshina defender's head at full force, as he went for the header. Briefly knocked out, he was then cradled, barely conscious, by Yakshiboev as held his face in obvious pain, with players from both teams looking on concerned. Haïk eventually departed the City Stadium in an ambulance, after several minutes of urgent treatment, and we had to play on a man short, having used all of our substitutes already.

That nasty incident seemed to take a lot of the momentum from the game and it slowly circled the drain of niggly inconsequence for the remaining fifteen minutes. We got into one or two half-promising positions but Belshina packed the box with their full team, determined not to suffer another late collapse. This time, deservedly, they hung on, as the belief and self-confidence drained away from our players. The ball just would not fall for us in the box and when it did, it was either under someone's studs or surrounded by three Belshina players. They managed the last stages of the game very effectively and in doing so, grabbed the points.   

IST (Isloch-Slutsk-Torpedo) Syndrome

There's a lot of thinking to do for our coaches this week. We are now in real danger of developing full-blown IST (Isloch-Slutsk-Torpedo) syndrome; that is to say, being a team who flatters to deceive at the start of the season only to fall away listlessly by the end. We have now taken just one point in three matches, and more tellingly are struggling to put away the poorer sides; if we finish fifth a few points off Europe at the end of the campaign, then the last gasp draw with Vitebsk and poor home defeats to Gorodeya and today will haunt us.

Overall this was an extremely dismaying result. What today exposed is that there isn't too much flexibility in the game plan and not a huge amount of depth to the squad. With Miroshnikov injured, and poor Haïk looking likely to be out for some time, we'll need to think again. There has to be some possibility to change the formation and players around.

Today also showed how important Bakić is to our cohesion up front. Yakshiboev, who looked petulant and disinterested until Haïk went off injured, seems to play better off Bakić. Perhaps a heresy should also be considered. If Bakić was fit and merely being rested today then I'd swap him back for Yakshiboev next week. If you're a professional footballer you don't get to pick and choose which games you turn up for, and I was really disappointed with the talisman's attitude today. The stark contrast between how our no. 7 led the line, for most of the game, and how Kovel led Belshina's, was the difference between the sides.

We have said all along that we should expect anomalous results and odd performances from time to time from our very young and inexperienced group. That doesn't make it any less frustrating when it actually happens. It wasn't all bad- the luckless Tweh had his best game for a while and was my man of the match by a distance, and the tireless Mawatu also gets an honourable mention. Belshina's Kovel, overall, was the best player on the park.

At the risk of repeating myself, I do feel we need one or two more experienced heads in the July window to help us in difficult situations. Belshina seemed to have learnt from Shaktyor's handling of Nosko last week, and he was quiet again. Lesko had a couple of important saves and actually once or twice looked a bit shocked at what was happening in front of him. I was once told by a Scottish manager that the only reason a coach played three at the back was because their team didn't know how to defend. I was thinking of that today as our back three were pulled hither and thither by Kovel. Defensively we were pretty poor and better opponents would have punished us more. One more experienced player in the middle of the park or at centre-half would make such a difference in turning around adverse situations. With hindsight Nosko dropping back made it more difficult for us and that's an important lesson, too.

Belshina just wanted the win far more today, and were fully deserving of the luck they had. The fact that a winless team, already needing snookers at the bottom of the table, showed so much more of the necessary attitude is perhaps the most sobering aspect of this afternoon's defeat for us. A big week lies ahead on the training pitch before we head to face Leonid Kuchuk's improving Dinamo Minsk side in the next game.

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @jonblackwood 

Vysheyshaya Liga Match Preview: 13th Round, June 14th 2020 vs Belshina Bobruisk

Sunday's visitors to Molodechno are FK Belshina from Bobruisk. Belshina were last year's second tier champions, winning the league by four point from runners-up Smolevichi, and twelve clear of third-placed Rukh, who progressed via the promotion play-off. It's safe to say that last year's heroics have already been overwritten by an awful campaign to date, which has seen the club fail to win any of their first twelve games, managing only three points in the process.

Belshina were founded in the mid-seventies and are a well-known name in the top two tiers of Belarusian football. Their historical record is as good as Shakhtyor's- three Belarusian cups and one solitary league title, in 2001. However, it's been some time since Belshina were serious contenders for the title, and in the last decade they have been relegated and promoted a couple of times. The club played in the second tier from 2016 until last season's title win.

A Beaver in Bobruisk! 

Bobruisk is an old, old Belarusian city, dating from the fourteenth century. The local symbol is the beaver, with the furry big-toothed dam-builders giving the place its name (Babior in Belarusian; Bobr in Russian). The city is full of statues of the beaver and tourists and citizens alike queue up for selfies and rub their bronze noses for luck. Beavers have come back after being hunted to the point of extinction, and are prominent in a nearby national park along the River Berezina, one of the area's attractions. Bobruisk was also once home to a large Jewish population tragically decimated during 1941-44; after the war, the Soviets industrialised and re-built a largely destroyed city. One of the concerns founded in that period- the "Belshina" tyre factory, which makes everything from ordinary tyres for Grandad's Moskvich to the enormous rubber circles required to move BelAZ's sub-continental sized mining trucks- have given the local club their name since the mid 1990s. 

Everything that is Solid Melts into Air

In 1812 Napoleon's army was humiliated by the Russians at the Battle of Berezina nearby- one of a string of heavy defeats on his way to relegation from the Nineteenth Century European Autocrat Premier League. To this day bérézina  is a word in French for a catastrophic situation. Catastrophe has been a familiar word for the local team in 2020, as they have stumbled lucklessly from defeat to defeat.

Head Coach Eduard Gradoboyev

Belshina are managed by Eduard Gradoboyev, who oversaw their championship win last season, assisted by Dmitry Migas. The two coaches have looked increasingly haggard this season as the defeats have mounted up, and the side has endured the kind of bad luck associated with drowning a bagful of black kittens, or indeed driving a BelAZ truck through a mirror factory. In most of the games I have seen this term Belshina have looked OK and created a few chances, but the opposition goal always seems to be guarded by a ball-repelling magnetic forcefield. Couple that with a confidence-shot defence that can't cope with set pieces and balls played diagonally across them, and it's no surprise they've struggled so badly.

In truth, Belshina's problems run a bit deeper than just this season. Last year's champions lost just twice, with the title flag hoisted on the back of goals from the prolific Aleksandr Yushin (27 games, 26 goals) and Andrei Lyasuk (12 goals). Both strikers departed in the close season; Yushin now turns out in the Russian second tier for Nefthekhimik Nizhnekamsk, whilst the veteran Lyasyuk opted to sign for Lida. Firepower of this quality is hard to replace, and it's been a problem Gradoboyev has been unable to solve. I am not sure whether this is down to money, or an inability to attract players to the club. Moreover, he has been unable to find a settled formation or starting line-up; he's rifled through seven different formations already, and used thirty-four players; both reliable indicators of a troubled season.

Fungus of the Mind

"Oh No, Not Gorodeya..."

Although results didn't go their way at the beginning of the season, Belshina did move the ball quite nicely and create chances, so it was expected that things would turn around for them. They opened with a poor 1-3 home defeat to FC Minsk, but draws with Smolevichi and Neman, and unlucky single goal reverses against Torpedo and gubbins village outfit Gorodeya, promised better.  Certainly, they looked better than Smolevichi, who were very young and naive, and pre-Covid FC Minsk, who have managed in most games to look like a bunch of iron filings that had lost their magnet.

Sadly, the big break has never come for the Bobruisk club and increasingly their squad appears afflicted with fungus of the mind.  In recent games, as soon as the opposition scores, Belshina look beaten. They've lost belief that when they fall behind, that they can turn things around. At Shakhtyor a few weeks ago, the side, cheered on by a noisy faction of ultras, gave a very good account for seventy minutes but then fell apart like a damp roll-up in a gale, with a Podstrelov goal-of-the-season contender typifying their bad luck throughout the campaign.

That spirited level of performance was nowhere to be seen last weekend as Dynamo Minsk visited Belshina's tidy Spartak stadium. Dynamo, who in all other games I've seen them have looked crabbed, constipated and over-wrought when attacking, were made to look like Real Madrid. Two of the goals were gifts, and a third an unlucky deflection; the take-away from this dreadful capitulation was that Belshina looked sunk after Dynamo scored the one goal they actually had to work for, within the opening five minutes.

However, that last defeat was a symptom rather than a cause. The real turning moments for Belshina have been in two separate 2-3 defeats; the first away to Slutsk, the second at home, in a gale and driving rain, to Slavia Mozyr. In the Slutsk game, Belshina showed tremendous spirit to come back from 0-2 down to level at 2-2; they then had two excellent opportunities to take the lead, but poor luck meant that they were passed up- only for Slutsk's Mohamed to pop up with a desperately late winner for the home side.

An even worse fate awaited against Slavia Mozyr. Leading 2-0 early on in the first half, Belshina were slowly peeled apart and lost the game with two cheap goals in the last quarter of the match, the winner being struck in the last minute. Both of these matches have stood out as particularly livid welts in a season of drubbings. Losing one game like that still hurts weeks later...two in a season leaves a side really struggling to maintain any kind of self-confidence.

A Cloggers' Gallery

Keeper Sergei Turanok may be rested this week

Belshina's regular goalkeeper has been Sergei Turanok, the club captain. He was part of the title winning group last term. He has experience previously with Gorodeya and Torpedo as well as a spell in Russia. Unfortunately he became a symbol of Belshina's terrible tailspin in the last outing against Dynamo. Just before half time, a dreadful mis-kicked clearance set up a second goal for the visitors; just after the break, he flailed at a difficult cross like a drunk trying to stop the last bus home, missing it totally. The ball bounced in for the third and poor Turanok lay prone on the ground with his face buried in his hands. It was hard not to feel a little sorry for him at that moment. It wouldn't surprise me if Gradoboyev takes the opportunity to rest his team captain, and bring back Alexei Kharitonovich in goal. He's a keeper in his mid twenties who played for Energetik for four seasons until signing for Belshina in 2019, and was last seen in their 0-3 home defeat to Dynamo Brest. He's tall and a good shot-stopper.

The only constant in a Belshina defence which has leaked 27 goals this term has been Nigerian centre-back Samuel Odeyobo. Samuel's role in recent games has been confined to berating the incompetence of an ever-shifting cast around him. He's big and quite challenging in the air, the still point in a vortex of defensive blundering. The defender, who hails from Lagos, has spent his entire career in Belarusian football. Odeyobo's most common partner at the back is Vladislav Yasukevich, a Belarusian under-21 cap.

Two players have caught the eye, fitfully, in Belshina's midfield. Sergey Glebko is an attacking midfielder who has already served eight top level clubs in Belarus; he has a lot of upper body strength and is quite quick, and has turned in a couple of really good performances, most notably in Belshina's narrow and unjust single goal defeat away to Torpedo early in the season. Winger Roman Salimov is also a regular starter in the side and Belshina have looked to him to try and set up chances, with 
inconsistent results. This season is Salimov's first in Belarus, having spent all of his footballing life in Russia.

Roman Salimov battles for the ball against Torpedo, watched by Sergey Glebko.

What would Gradoboyev and the Belshina support give for just one of last season's strike force to come back? Part of their difficulty this season has been an inability to convert good chances, but still they are not without merit going forward, and have a couple of players worthy of watching. Top scorer with three goals is Leonid Kovel. At 33 Kovel is now approaching the veteran stage of his career, with previous clubs in Ukraine, Russia, Kazhakstan and Latvia, as well as spells at four other Belarusian Premier league teams. Kovel also is a full Belarusian international with three goals in seventeen appearances, although he hasn't featured in the national squad for several years now. Kovel isn't the quickest, but is a smart player, always knowing how to find the right place in the box, and with a lot of strength and appetite for the game.

Central midfielder Pavel Bordukov is another player to be wary of- normally deployed in an attacking position behind Kovel. He's a powerful character who's featured twelve times this season and has most of his career ahead of him, having signed to take part in Belshina's title winning campaign from Dnepr Mogilev. When Belshina are playing better, it's usually down to Bordukov's promptings from the middle of the park.

A younger Leonid Kovel representing his country against Croatia.

Only a Win Will Do

Energetik won't have a better opportunity to get back to winning ways than a home fixture against Belshina. Even having acknowledged their better players, we should have more than enough to cause them many problems. Belshina really struggle from corners and free kicks, and also don't cope well with diagonal balls played at pace over the top of their defence. I feel that if we can have a high-energy, high-tempo pressing start against them and one or two quick goals, we will settle the game down. Our biggest enemies here are ourselves; either through complacency, or nerves. No one wants to be Belshina's first victims this season, and the longer their winless streak goes on, the worse that feeling will be.

I suspect we will see a more attacking line up this week as coach Vladimir looks to capitalise on Belshina's many weaknesses; perhaps a 3-4-3, even, to try and test them in the first half. Perhaps it's time for a couple of the players who have spent most of the season on the bench to come in and show what they are capable of. With Shakhtyor travelling to face BATE at the Borisov arena, only a win will do in this fixture, for two reasons; firstly, to keep the pressure on the top two in the event that they draw with one another; secondly, to go into the following week's fixture, a Minsk derby away at Dynamo with a good win and professional performance behind us.  In this context no slackening off against supposedly weaker opposition can be tolerated. I don't expect a classic game this weekend, but I do expect a win.

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @jonblackwood

Vysheyshaya Liga Match Report: 12th Round, June 7th 2020, Shakhtyor Soligorsk 1, Energetik-BGU 0

Sadovskiy Surprise

On a sunny late afternoon in Soligorsk, coach Vladimir sprung a surprise on us all, by re-introducing Denis Sadovskiy in goal in place of big Artur Lesko, who returned to the bench. Lesko has impressed me in recent games and none of the goals last week were his fault, so this change was unexpected. Otherwise, the same side took to the park, with the exception of the returning Yakshiboev, who slotted straight in to replace the suspended Yudchits.

The first half of the game was quite a hard watch. Tactically, Shaktyor coach Bernydub seemed to have watched our games very closely, and set up his side to snuff out our creative players, thereby creating space for his own. A particular target was Nosko who had his quietest game of the season; every time he had the ball in the first half, Shakhtyor's Selyava or Balanovich seemed to be right on top of him, obliging him to play sideways, backwards, or on a few occasions, lose the ball altogether. It was interesting to see another side expose how important a role Nosko plays in the middle of the park for us.

Shakhtyor were also particularly severe on Mawatu, who was clattered badly early on by the gangling Ihar Burko. Burko was yellow carded for his pains, and Mawatu, who had gone down screaming, was able to carry on, but despite a few trademark runs down their right he wasn't able to get his usual purchase.

Vitaly Lisakovich : A Confounded Nuisance

What transpired to be the game's only goal was scored by Belarusian international striker Vitaly Lisakovich. Lisakovich, with a low centre of gravity and a fair turn of pace, is a nightmare to face, as he is also one of these players who is never happy, always moaning at his team-mates, and greedy for more and more goals. The goal itself was straight forward. Bursting down our right in consort with Kenysh, Lisakovich played a smart 1:2 with the midfielder and burst clear into the area, with Svirepa totally bypassed by these crisp passes. With Sadovskiy coming off his line as best he could, Lisakovich hit a low, perfectly timed and powerful drive into the bottom left hand corner of the net. It was a finely judged finish. Shakhtyor seemed to go after Svirepa, rather, in the first period and he had an uncomfortable time of it throughout the game.

We showed a rare glimpse of our capabilities and almost had ourselves level with out first meaningful attack after 17 minutes. Untidy play on the right saw a lofted pass from Umarov, I think, find Yak on the edge of the area, his back to a watchful fluorescent wall. A 1:2 with Bakić, a bit of twisting and turning, and then Yak caressed a sharp angled ball to play in his strike partner. Bakić finished nicely past Gutor. The big no. 17 was a good yard offside, sadly, and the “goal” was disallowed amidst half-hearted protests.

With our creative outlet muzzled and our players looking unusually nervous and hurried, Shakhtyor dominated the opening half. They were very unlucky just after the half hour not to double their advantage. This time it was Serbian winger Igor Ivanović, from a central position near to the edge of our area, who played a beautifully weighted pass into the box for Lisakovich to run onto. The striker, who had again lost Svirepa, was faced with a much tighter angle this time. With his left boot he swept the ball across Sadovskiy and just beyond the stretching boot of the on-rushing Selyava; it cracked the inside of the base of the left hand post, and bounced clear. One or two more speculative shots came in in the ensuing melee before the chance faded. At the other end, we offered very little, with Yakshiboev and Bakić having very little to work with. A speculative trundler from Umarov was about the best it got for us in the first half.

Clearly, the way the half had gone was not sustainable from an Energetik point of view, and Umarov was withdrawn in favour of defensive midfielder Vasili Sovpel, which definitely had an effect after the break. Shaktyor too replaced Ivanović with Dmity Podstrelov, another attacking move.

Finally waking the Gutor

Energetik had a better shape in the second half and had clearly heard some strong advice from Vladimir in the interval. The side grew a bit in confidence as the second half wore on, whilst riding our luck a bit defensively. Yakshiboev finally tested Gutor in the home goal with a very powerful drive on fifty four minutes. A lofted free kick from Mawatu, aimed at Bakić was knocked down into the Yak's path by a defensive header from Burko, and the resulting instinctive Scud missile of a shot was palmed over at half stretch by the Shaktyor keeper. A few minutes later, a burst down the left by Girs and cross, eluded the home defenders, and Yak headed into the keeper's arms at the right post, having caught it awkwardly, unable to get enough traction on it. These were encouraging signs from Energetik.

Alarmed by these signs of their opponents' resurgence, Shakhtyor nearly added a second on 63 minutes. A skirmish between Mawatu, and Kendysh saw the home midfielder emerge with the ball, and seeing a gap in our retreating defence, played the pass of the game- a beautifully weighted diagonal pass across the park, into space, for Lisakovich to run onto. He reached the ball ahead of Sadovskiy and rounded the flailing goalkeeper, but the angle was too tight, and a few of our defenders were back blocking the goal; the chance was lost with Selyava and Podstrelov lurking. Podstrelov also stung Sadovskiy's midriff with a powerful left foot effort from just inside the area, which the young keeper held well.

To my personal relief Selyava was withdrawn for the gangling Bodul with a little over twenty minutes remaining- he had had an outstanding match and worked so hard alongside Balanovich to create the circumstances for them to win- what Scottish coaches like to call "earning the right to play". His performance was one of the best I've seen against us this season, even if Lisakovich will claim tomorrow's headlines.

Doing a Vitebsk?

As we entered the last quarter of the game Lisakovich set up another really close call for Shakhtyor. He pickpocketed the luckless Svirepa and strongarmed his way towards goal, more than matching a determined challenge from Sovpel before playing in Podstrelov, lurking in the area to the left of our defence. The no. 19 crashed a low drive across Sadovskiy, beating him, and again the ball crashed off the inside of the post and out to safety. Sadovskiy takes a bit of credit for getting something on the ball and perhaps helping to deflect it a little. It began to feel like one of those games where the side that's been pummelled for most of the game snatches a late, unexpected equaliser- a fate known in the trade as "doing a Vitebsk". 

We had two possibilities to emulate Sergei Yasinsky's annoying side, as the clock wound down. Mawatu, on the touchline, halfway inside the Shakhtyor half, fed Tweh, who in a quicksilver turn fed Yak. The Uzbek perhaps snatched at the shot a little, striking the ball narrowly over the bar when quite well placed. But a bigger what if? moment was to come five minutes from the end.

Another Shakhtyor move had petered out at the edge of our area and Sadovskiy released the ball quickly. It reached Girs on the half way line who hit it long in the direction of Yak, who flicked on. The connection was perfect as it fell to Bakić, running diagonally into the area and finding the gap between Burko and Antić. The lanky Montenegrin bore down on the cautiously advancing Gutor; his cracked the ball powerfully goalward, hitting the keepers midriff and half raised arm. With the power taken out of it, time stood still as the ball dropped towards the goal-line, terribly slowly. And just-just-wide. That was the big moment, and it didn't quite fall our way. Yakshiboev, knowing this, threw himself to the ground in frustration , as Bakić leant on an advertising hoarding and wondered what might have been. In truth, we must credit Gutor with a fine stop- Bakić couldn't have done anything much better.

Shaktyor managed the remainder of the game well, seeing it out largely through a series of half hearted corners and set plays. The final whistle below, and their fans were able to greet a narrow, hard-fought win with some relief.

Pride and Disappointment

Look, this result is a real disappointment. This game between second and third in the table was tactically absorbing, rather than a classic; people who had seen previous free-flowing Energetik performances may have hoped for more goals and excitement. Being Energetik-minded, it's a pity that we couldn't convert one of the three good chances we carved out in the second half. From our point of view, a point may have been deserved. But the neutral would bring up the two shots that clattered the inside of our post, and consider that we had had luck enough. 

We have to remember the youth and inexperience of this side and that we were playing, in my opinion, the best side in the division. Shakhtyor are very strong and have depth in every aspect of their squad. They move the ball better than BATE and seem much hungrier for success than their Borisov rivals, who approached today's game in Vitebsk as a jaded glutton faces another eighteen course dinner. Shakhtyor have now won seven in a row and not conceded at all in that time. They won today by stopping us playing initially, and then using that as a platform to grind out a crucial three points.

We struggled to cope a bit in the first half, as Shakhtyor overwhelmed us physically, and shut down our creative outlets quite ruthlessly. However, we can take a lot of pride from the recovery shown by the players in the second half, and their refusal to be cowed, or curl up and concede a few, in the face of such opposition. I felt that the issues raised last weekend by running out of energy in the last few minutes were addressed; we played at the same physical level of performance throughout the ninety minutes. We pushed a very good side hard in the second half, and if we can maintain these levels of performance and application better results surely lie ahead against hapless Belshina, and Dinamo Minsk, in the next two games. Our ambition to finish in the top three is still very much on and with BATE and Shakhtyor still to play we'll have a big say in the eventual destiny of the title.

As for Shakhtyor, their trip to the Borisov Arena next weekend is one for the neutral to really look forward to, and they should be going there with every expectation of winning. It falls to them to try and chase down BATE in the next few games, and it's our target now to keep the pressure on the top two as much as we are able, by returning to consistently winning ways. Coach Vladimir will be able to hammer this message home in training this week and use it as motivation.

TL;dr? Here's the highlights, then.

Jon Blackwood

Twitter: @jonblackwood