The champion of this very Superleague regular season was known back in February, when SKA beat the Brest team 28:23 at home. Not mathematically, of course, but everyone understood everything. And that match was the last for Dmitry Tikhon as the head coach of Meshkovites. Today, a bitter fate befell his successor. Eduard Koksharov failed his first serious exam in the Belarusian expanses.
The final “-6” is unpleasant. But if you know how the events of the match developed, then the degree of this trouble will grow to a square, or even to a cube. SKA came to Brest not with trembling knees. Even Yevgeny Nikanovich’s nasty injury didn’t unsettle the Minskers: one of the team leaders was replaced by the namesake Ladutko just before the starting whistle. But in the course of the season, the “soldiers” are already … accustomed to defeating “Sacks Brest”. One draw and two victories – that was the catch of SKA with the reigning champion.
And the challenger announced his ambitions loudly, breaking away on the move by a couple of balls. “Meshkovtsy” with the help of Kuran and Shinkel organized a counterspurt – 4:4. But then there was a “plug” again, SKA doubled its personal score, and the hosts stubbornly hammered on the closed doors. At the 9th minute, the scoreboard showed “+4” in favor of the guests, and Meshkov Brest requested an alarming time-out. But no major changes happened.
Mercury and active defense of SKA over and over again forced the “Meshkovites” to shoot from unfavorable positions or simply lose the ball, after which the guests in quick attacks completely scoffed first at Zabolotin, and then at Usyk. 23 goals conceded before the break is a litmus of a real fiasco for both defense and goalkeepers. But Konstantin Kovalev at the gates of SKA knew his service properly. He even scored a save after a seven-meter. And while the “soldiers” were pounding goals on a large scale and for every taste, Brest slowly fell into a state of apathy. That reflected the scoreboard after the first half. Minus nine…
Miracles do happen, of course. And even such gaps are leveled in 30 minutes. But not here and not now. The beginning of the second half “Meshkovtsy” also failed successfully, having received “-12” in the shoulders. SKA held a double-digit lead until the half-time equator, after which Igor Papruga already allowed himself some creative experiments. Yes, and the bench near Minsk was loaded. Brest resigned to defeat long before the final whistle. Yes, the hosts managed to halve the gap, claiming to be a shameful epithet, but this did not look like a feat of the “Meshkovites”, but like the gentlemanly behavior of the “soldiers”.
For the fate of internal trophies somehow quite alarming …
“BAGS BREST” – SKA (MINSK) – 31:37 (14:23)
“BAGS BREST”: Zabolotyn, Usyk; Budeyko (4), Zhang, Podshivalov, Yurynok, Matiyashevych (3), Shumak (1), Baranov (10), Vergeichyk, Shinkel (2), Alyokhin (3), Yarosh, Selvesyuk (1), Kuran (6), Andreev (1).
SKA: Kovalev, Stasiuk; Khmelkov (5), Samoilo (4), Shepelenko (3), Hayduk (1), Kamyshik (2), Shabelnikov (4), Kryvenko (5), Bely (1), Belyavsky (8), Nemkov, Petrovych, Pushkin (3), Ladutko, Widow (1).