FC Bucha Fortuna drew 1-1 with Olimp from Dmytrivka on Saturday, 10 October, in Round 8 of the Kyiv region Top League. The visitors went ahead in the 14th minute, Bucha equalised in the 71st and then missed a penalty in the 89th.

This is based on our live text commentary and the match recording. The standings are taken from the Kyiv Regional Football Association table.

How it happened

Bucha started the brighter side: Mykyta Dzen first had a shot blocked, then turned in the box, but Olimp goalkeeper Hordii Nikolaienko got a leg to it and turned the ball behind for a corner.

In the 14th minute Serhii Maksymets laid the ball off from the left into the middle, and Tymofii Lystopad struck from distance with the outside of his foot. The ball curled past Denys Sabatiuk into the net for 0-1.

After the break Dmytro Masalov replaced Maksym Pokotyliuk and soon rescued his side: Maksymets rounded Sabatiuk, but Masalov cleared the ball off the empty goal line. Oleksandr Moroziuk then fired just wide at the other end.

In the 59th minute captain Vasyl Koropetskyi was replaced by Artem Hrokholskyi. Later, while Olimp player Serhii Pichuhin was down on the pitch, the referee showed a yellow card to Bucha head coach Volodymyr Bondarenko.

Bucha levelled in the 71st minute: Moroziuk laid the ball back and Volodymyr Plastun shot from outside the box, the ball going in off the post. In the 81st minute Hrokholskyi could not continue after a collision and was replaced by Bohdan Hora.

It was Hora who won a penalty late on. The visitors argued that the foul was outside the box, but referee Artem Hordynskyi was close by and pointed to the spot. Plastun took it, but Nikolaienko saved.

In stoppage time Masalov was shown a second yellow card, and Bucha finished with ten men. There were no more goals: after five added minutes the referee confirmed the draw.

What the game showed

Both sides wasted a sitter. At 0-1 Maksymets shot at an empty goal, and at 1-1 in the closing minutes Plastun had a penalty. So a draw is a fair outcome: each side let its own win slip away.

Both goals came from distance. Each was scored from outside the box, and on an awkward flight for the goalkeeper. Closer to goal the defences held firm: Nikolaienko stopped Dzen’s best chances in the box.

Nikolaienko saved Olimp a point. The visiting goalkeeper denied Dzen in the first half and saved the penalty in the 89th minute. Bucha’s scorer Plastun could also have been the match-winner, but lost the duel with the keeper.

Bondarenko’s substitutions made a difference. Masalov, who came on at half-time, saved his side from going 0-2 down, and Hora, who replaced the injured Hrokholskyi, won the penalty. But the sending-off may cost Masalov the next match.

Olimp drew 1-1 again. It is their third 1-1 draw in a row in the league, after Denhoff and Sokil. In all, they have now drawn four of their eight matches.

Watch the match

The full recording of Bucha v Olimp is in the player below. Both goals, Maksymets’s chance with an empty net and Nikolaienko’s penalty save can be watched again.

The table

Bucha have 10 points from six matches: three wins, a draw and two defeats. Olimp have 13 points from eight rounds. The other Round 8 matches ran until the evening of 10 October, so the places in the table will be settled after them.

Bucha have two games in hand: their Round 1 match with Partyzan and Round 7 match with Tytan have still not been counted, because both were stopped by air raid alerts. Before this round Kalynivka led with 19 points from seven games.

What’s next

In Round 9 Bucha travel to Brovary to face Tigers, who have lost all seven of their matches this season with a goal difference of 3-85. Olimp will host the league leaders, Kalynivka.

As a reminder, Bucha’s cup quarter-final with Tytan on 7 October never started because of an air raid alert.

Nota bene

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