Vysheyshaya Liga Match Preview: 12th Round, June 7th 2020 vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk

Serial Bridesmaids

Sunday's game sees a very difficult trip to face one of the league's strongest sides, Shakhtyor Soligorsk. If BATE are serial winners in the league, then Shakhtyor are its' serial bridesmaids. The side has finished in the top three of the Belarusian Premier League every season since 2010, without ever actually winning it in that time. Shaktyor did win the league once, in 2005, before BATE's interminable dominance began, continuing until Dynamo Brest's success last season. Shakhtyor have also picked up three Belarusian cup wins, the last in 2019, and are reliable qualifiers for Europe.

Soligorsk itself has only existed since 1958, with the club three years younger than the town it represents. Soligorsk is the kind of city that was very common in Soviet times, a monoindustrial settlement built around the exploitation of natural resources. In classic Soviet fashion, Soligorsk was almost beamed down from outer space, growing at breakneck speed in the 1960s. The resource in question is potash agricultural fertiliser; Soligorsk, through the massive company Belaruskali, exports one in five tonnes of global production of the stuff and exists in markets all over the world. It explains the football club's nickname of "The Miners" or "The Moles". It's no exaggeration to state that Belaruskali helps to prop up the national economy, with planners already concerned about over-exploitation of the resource, and wondering what will happen to the town and the country after it is all gone. BELARUSKALI is emblazoned on the chest of Shakhtyor's distinctive highlighter-pen yellow home shirts.

Shakhtyor on their way to a 5-1 aggregate win over Welsh qualifiers Connah's Quay Nomads in the 2018 Europa League

Shakhtyor are based at the compact Stroitel stadium, modernised in the 1990s. Managing the team is the Ukranian coach Yury Vernydub, who spent a decade as assistant and then manager of Zoryha Luhansk in the Ukranian Premier League, having also managed in Russia. As a player, he was a defensive midfielder, best remembered for steady spells at two clubs in Zaporizhiya, Metalurh and Torpedo. The experienced coach has been in charge at the Stroitel stadium since 2019.

Manager Yury Vernydub

Shakhtyor, being from the wealthiest town in Belarus, have money to spend that few other than BATE can match. The club spent 900,000 euros strengthening the squad in the close season, bringing in two Serbian players, winger Igor Ivanović from Napredak Kruševac, and centre-half Zarija Lambulić, a B international, from Proleter Novi Sad. Shakhtyor seem to have a strong set of links in the former Yugoslavia, with a lot of trading to and fro in players, from both Serbia and Croatia. Aside from these imports, no fewer than nine of the current squad are full Belarusian internationals, with a total of 123 caps between them.

Torpedoed: A Stuttering Start

With the obvious strength of this squad their opening-day defeat to Torpedo BelAZ came as a bitter disappointment to the home faithful. A mixture of wayward finishing and an inspiring performance from Bushma in the visitors goal set the stage for Gabriel Ramos to smash and grab an injury time winner, a swerving, dipping worldly that left the home side no time to respond. Shaktyor shook the dust of disappointment off their boots in despatching gubbins village outfit Gorodeya 2-0 in their next game, but then endured two goal-less matches, firstly at home to Neman, followed by a spirit-crushingly dull encounter away to Smolevichi. After another home defeat in the local derby with pace-setters Slutsk, alarm bells were beginning to sound, and the nail holding up the jacket of coach Vernydub loosened considerably.

Six Games, Sixteen Points, Six Clean Sheets

Regular Shakhtyor no. 1 Aleksandr Gutor

Since then, however, Shakhtyor have risen like bubbles in a newly popped bottle of Bollinger. Their last six games have seen five wins and a draw; a marker was set in a 2-0 success at Dynamo Brest before Isloch's early title pretensions were exposed pitilessly at Stroitel, as the Miners swept to a stylish 4-0 win. Since then further successes have come against Belshina, the luckless backmarkers, and Slavia at home, with a comfortable if dull win in Minsk against a leaden Dinamo last time out. Only stubborn Vitebsk, who somehow clung on at home for a point in a goal-less draw, have broken this perfect sequence. This impressive run of results has seen The Miners employ a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Lisakovich leading the line. 

Shakhtyor's success has been built on defence. They have only conceded three goals all season, in those two defeats; otherwise, they haven't let a goal through at all, and their back line has kept six consecutive clean sheets since their pockets were pick-pocketed by an impish Slutsk. In goal is the impressive Aleksandar Gutor, a 31 year old regular in national squads, capped sixteen times for Belarus. Gutor has also been a champion in previous seasons with BATE and Dynamo Brest, moving to Soligorsk in the last close season. In a league with more than its' fair share of malfunctioning clownshoes keepers, Gutor's performances have been consistent, with faultless handling and judgement in the air and some good saves to boot. He is prone to the very occasional brainfart, but it hasn't cost his team just yet.

In front of him, Shakhtyor have a big, physical defence that plays in a safety-first manner we could learn a lot from. Ruslan Khadarkevich is an experienced and powerful centre-half; Nikola Antić, a Serbian under 21 international, also catches the eye in the back four.

Sergei Balanovich in action for Belarus against Spain in 2013/14. The Spaniards were very lucky to win this game, 2-1.

Shakhtyor also are solid in the middle of the park, with the platinum-blond talisman Yury Kendysh having come to the club from serial Moldovan league winners FC Sherriff. He's been prominent in the games I've seen as someone who breaks down opposition moves and sets up his own sides' counters, from a central position. Sergei Balanovich, a regular for the national team, is another dangerous opponent on the left side of midfield, a consistent performer for Shaktyor over eight seasons, in two separate spells.

Shaktyor are slightly strange up front. Despite the riches in their squad, they have stuttered for form a bit in front of goal. Two 4-0 successes against Belshina and Isloch give their goals-for column in the table a slightly flattering gloss; take those away, and they've only managed eight league goals in nine games, having been shut out completely in four of those.

Leading goalscorer Vitaly Lisakovich

The striker to watch is full Belarusian cap Vitaly Lisakovich, who has five goals to his name from ten games- a couple of those were fierce strikes from long distance. Lisakovich is quick, likes to run across the face of the defence and wait for a gap to open up, aiming for the top corner of the goal from about twenty yards. Shaktyor also have a supersub in the shape of Sarajevo-born Darko Bodul, now a naturalised Austrian citizen. The heavily-tattoed Bodul, unmistakable with his lank long locks and bushy beard is usually introduced for the last fifteen minutes and twice has supplied the coup-de-grace to wounded visitors to the Stroitel- notably a final, spectacular insult to a sinking Belshina side in their most recent home game. The already-mentioned Igor Ivanović is a hard working and intelligent winger who is coming onto his game after a sluggish settling in period at Soligorsk.

Darko Bodul

From Our Point of View: Why Not Us?

This clearly will be a very difficult game for us. The good news is that Shakhtyor seem to be slightly more comfortable on the road than at home, where both their defeats have occurred. The absence of Yudchits thanks to the red card last time out is a big disappointment, as I think the team had begun to work really well with him leading the line as effectively as he has been. However, the return of the Yak, the leading scorer in the league, after a single game suspension means that he will likely slot into the team alongside Dušan Bakić up front. However, coach Vladimir may decide to approach this game more defensively after leaking three goals to a poor Vitebsk side last weekend. Facing such a powerful forward line, it must be tempting to dispense with a colander-like back three and instead play with four at the back and five across the middle, utilising Girs, Umarov and Tweh in attacking roles and dropping Bakić behind Yakhshiboev. Self-belief against a such an opponent will be key.

Shaktyor's achingly yellow Stroitel stadium

Teams like Neman, Vitebsk and Smolevichi have frustrated Shakhtyor this season and it's to be hoped we can do the same. I would be more than happy shutting them out in a dull 0-0 draw, but then the only beneficiary of that result would be BATE, who are away in Vitebsk. If we find a way of keeping Lisakovich, Ivanović and Bodul quiet, as those teams have done, then we might just sneak another win, perhaps by mirroring their unusual formation. It's certainly the game of the weekend in the league, with the winner more than likely to go and and mount a sustained challenge to BATE's title aspirations. Shakhtyor are undoubtedly favourites for the game, but Vladimir will be asking in training this week; why should it be Shaktyor that pushes BATE all the way this season, and not us? On Sunday at 1800hrs UK time, we'll all see if our players have an answer.

Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @jonblackwood