Arriving on Time




On Saturday I went to the match between Dynamo and Tavriya with Andriy and Asya, it was the first time it had been just us 3 at a match since Dynamo beat Newcastke in the Champions League. This was obviously a long time ago as the thought of Newcastle playing in the Champions League and Dynamo actually winning a game in it feels like a distant memory.


Things might be about to change at least in Kyiv, although probably not on Tyneside, if recent performances are anything to go by. Out have gone oldies, such as Bielkevich, Gavrancic and Rebrov and some of the more useless signings like Markovic and in have come emerging youngsters like Aliev and Kravets. It seems that Semin could really be the man to change Dynamo's fortunes around. It should be remembered that Dynamo are the reigning champions, but in the first half of this season there were several lacklustre performances. They are now top of the league, but going into the winter break were in third and didn't really show any promise of catching Dnipro let alone Shakhtar.


Last week I wrote that Tavriya, who have pulled off some impressive results might come out on the attack, unfortunately for them, like most of their fans the team seemed to turn up late. After 5 minutes it was already 2-0 to Dynamo. Aliev scoring a thunderous free kick on 3 minutes and then Kravets adding a tap in a couple of minutes later.


This could have led to an opening of the flood gates, but Dynamo controlled the game, especially in midfield where Correa and Ghioane bossed the game and provided further chances for Aliev, Kravets and Milevskiy, who came close to scoring on several occassions, but who already knew that the game was in the bag. So at half time it was still 2-0.


Dynamo continued to pressure in the second half , and the 3rd goal was scored by Ghioane on 57 minutes. After this Dynamo continued to control the midfield and there was only ever going to be one winner, in what was a convincing victory for Dynamo. There was a modicum of excitement when ex-Dynamo player Lucky Idahor came on for Tavriya, but he was never going to be that lucky today.


All in all a good game and a great performance for Dynamo, but after the 2 early goals there was only going to be one winner. I also have to admit to being more than a little distracted by the text messages I was getting that were informing me that Villa had beaten Derby 6-0 away and that Arsenal had beaten Chernomorets 1-0 away, so all in all it was a great day for football.
Notes on photographs:
The top photograph shows the Dynamo fans letting off smoke bombs at the start of the game. The fire brigade threatened to drench them with water, which they were taunting them to do, but nothing came of it.
The second picture is taken shortly after Kravets gets the second for Dynamo.
The third shows Asya and Andriy at full time.

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