football rambles

Another cancelled plane led to another bonus match. I should have been grateful, but my final match in Ukraine saw Kryvbas visit Kyiv and as I have already documented in several places on this site they always do something to annoy me. Usually Kryvbas finish mid-table and their strategy for away games seems to be to kill the game and pick up a draw away every time. However, this time they were already relegated by a long way, so things seemed to have changed. In contrast Obolon were guaranteed to finish mid-table, but the game against Dynamo didn't see them have a shot on target and earlier in the week I had been to Andriy's house to see Obolon play Tavriya away, which had seen both teams play out a 0-0 draw without much enthusiasm, which was strange at least on Tavriya's part as they are going for a place in the Europa League (which unlike in England is quite a big deal). On the day of the match I met Andriy who had an awful hangover and to be honest I should have been fee...

Blogger wouldn't allow me to put the video on here, but the highlights can be seen here: http://101greatgoals.magnify.net/item/QQSF6K6QW705M10T

Yesterday Arsenal played Kryvbas and as usual it was a draw, although this time there were a few goals at least. Arsenal had most of the play in both halves of the match, but looked a little lightweight up front. vovo Lisi aka Volodymyr Lysenko scored in the 4oth minute to put Arsenal ahead and we were ecstatic, as we were so shocked that a goal had been scored in this fixture. That shocked that Ewig made me take a picture of the scoreboard to prove it wasn't an optical illusion. The lead was short lived though, as Arsenal scored just before half-time and then just as the second half started Kryvbas equalised through a goal that took a wicked deflection and looped over Reva's head into the goal. Arsenal really should have won this game, as the midfield totally outplayed Kryvbas and they managed to hit the inside of the post and the crossbar. However, on several ocassions they were guilty of trying to walk the ball into the net and midfield breakaways ended in nothing as there w...

Double headers are few and far between and when they happen it usually feels like the canonball run from one stadium to another, today was a bit more relaxed, in a way, and I saw 2 good games and didn't feel guilty as I was excused from going to some kid's birthday party. First up was Obolon v Prikarppatiya. I have to say that Obolon's ground is a real sod to find, situated in a housing estate at the end of a metro line and without floodlights doesn't make it easy and neither does the fact that very few of the locals know the way. I had been there twice before, but I still found it hard and ended up phoning Andriy for directions. Luckily I found it in time and it's a good job I did. First of all the beer is dead cheap and straight from the brewery, it costs the equivalent of 20p and tastes good, so it's a good job the club have the sense to have plenty of portaloos there. The weather was terrible, hence the poor photos from today, but the football was satisfacto...

My favourite 2 Vische Liha clubs do battle on Friday evening as Metalist take on Arsenal in Kharkiv and I'm faced with a bit of a conundrum on Sunday. Dynamo take on Kryvbas and Obolon take on Prikarpattiya on the same day. I was unaware that Obolon were playing this weekend, as most of their games tend to be on weekdays, due to them being in the first division, although they are looking good for promotion. The only reason I found out was that I saw the Horse from the fan club in the street. However, I don't have any clue regarding the kick off time and a phone call to Andriy and a browse of their website didn't shed any light on the situation. Furthermore their ground is situated at the arse end of town and even the football daily Komanda prints kick off times for the Vische League wrongly, nevermind the first league. That said, it will test my resolve to go to Obolon and give Dynamo the elbow a bit if and when Obolon get promoted. I find Dynamo pretty annoying, most of t...