Chornomorets start slowly and Lavuta stands firm

“We slept through the start again,” Roman Hryhorchuk said afterwards. Allow me to refine the Chornomorets head coach’s assessment. His side slept through two-thirds of the match. The orders to wake up and get all hands on deck, accompanied by the Sailors’ customary cries of alarm, finally got them battle-ready a quarter of an hour from the end.

A tight squeeze, no hard feelings, as the saying goes. In this case it was the time limit that was tight, and the Odesa side’s chances were plentiful. With time running out they created enough openings to rescue the match and even thrash Kudrivka. Kyrylo Lavuta saw to it that they did neither. The 24-year-old Premier League debutant repelled every Chornomorets boarding party, a breakwater on which the Sailors’ hopes were dashed.

The sides had never met and happened to be neighbours in the basement of the table. Both knew what was at stake in a direct contest at a ground they knew well, Avanhard. Before meeting the Odesa club, Kudrivka had taken their only league win there. A week earlier Chornomorets had comfortably beaten the stadium’s tenants.

The start was déjà vu for the Sailors after the Veres game. They conceded in the fourth minute then and the ninth this time. Kudrivka deserved it. Oleksandr Protchenko’s players were livelier, more purposeful and simply played better. The goal could have come straight out of an old British football manual. Svitiukha’s measured cross from the right was met by a flawless Smyrnyi header into the net.

Odesa could have levelled before the break. That hardly meant they had woken up, as Christian Mba’s half-asleep movements showed. In the 17th minute Pushkarov skipped past Melnychuk and Semenov down the right and rolled the ball to the Nigerian on the penalty spot, on a plate. Mba sent it straight up. Midway through the half he broke clear himself with Alefirenko completely free to his left. Still looking barely awake, he thumped a difficult shot straight at Lavuta. An odd player, this loanee from Kharkiv.

Kudrivka began the second half as brightly as the first. Plaksa hit the post from 25 metres, then Aniagboso kept out a firm Svitiukha shot and Owusu’s follow-up. Then the bell finally rang aboard the Black Sea cruiser. From the 74th to the 81st minute it was Lavuta’s hour of glory. Artem Yashkov’s understudy saved a dangerous Alefirenko strike and won three one-on-ones, one against Khoma and two against Yoka. He also reacted to an acrobatic close-range scissor kick from the tireless Congolese forward. Yoka tried a fourth time in the 85th minute. Lavuta was a wall.

The last chance fell in stoppage time to Zharzhu, who went up for a corner in Kudrivka’s box and took Aniagboso with him. The Gambian struck from barely ten paces. The Ghanaian Owusu put his head on the line for the win.

Roman Hryhorchuk, Chornomorets head coach: “We slept through the start again. Then we created countless clear-cut chances and put away none of them. None! You can blame awful luck, of course, but you also have to talk about a lack of quality.”

Oleksandr Protchenko, Kudrivka head coach: “After the disastrous second half against Karpaty, we spoke frankly with the lads, worked out what was what and focused on Chornomorets, our direct rivals. We went out determined to win, scored an early goal and tried to build on it, though it didn’t all come off. It was tough towards the end, but Lavuta saved us and we held out.”