(FM'16) - холодная пустыня футбола и Русская зима

[neilhoskins77]

May 2015.
Magnitogorsk, Russia.

The Cold Wilderness of Football and the Russian Winter. That's what the story title says. Or at least, that's what Google translate says anyway. Thankfully, when I get here it's May, and warm. Not that the weather makes the city any more beautiful to the eye. Near the border of Kazakhstan, the vastness of this country is captured when the area is described as Western Russia, but it's still over a thousand miles east of Moscow. This city is an industrial staple of Russia, iron and steel are what make this city in the Chelyabinsk Oblast region of the country, situated near the Ural Mountains. An average of 20c in May makes the place feel more pleasant than it will probably feel in the winter when the temperatures are likely to be about 40c lower than that.

Magnitogorsk is a city with a population that is waning rather than growing. Still, over 400,000 folks call this place home, but the population of this city don't appear to care much for football. Their sporting love is reserved for their local KHL ice hockey club, Metallurg Magnitogorsk Magnitka, the Foxes. Two times Gagarin Cup winners, the 7,500 seat Arena Metallurg is often sold out, while the football club that I'm here to manage only shift 250 season tickets per season on average.

Central Stadium, 13,200 all seater capacity, built originally in 1967, and then refurbished and improved in 2004, and wasted on the two football clubs. As well as my own new employers, FC Magnitogorsk also play at the Central, despite being several steps up the ladder above us, they are no more popular with the local paying public, in fact, they have less support than ourselves. That must be quite the embarrassment for the one time second tier club in the Soviet Union and Russia. Themselves down in the 6th tier of football in the new Russia, there doesn't appear to be too many football glory days on the horizon in this part of the world.

You would still have to go through several more tiers of football to find the competitive level of my new club, Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk. The amateur club will begin the 2015/16 season in 4. Pervenstvo Rossii Sredi Lyubitel'Skikh Futbol'Nykh Klubov Gruppa 14. I think that can probably be described more accurately as 4.PRSLFK Group 14, which is the tenth tier. There isn't a semi-professional club to be found until you get back up to Tier 6, four promotions away. It's a twenty four club Division, with the top two only getting promoted, and the third place side qualifying for a promotion playoff. The club has no staff, apart from the Chairman and myself. There are no players here either. It's a blank canvas if you look at the positive side. It's got the potential for football disaster if you prefer to look at the negative. This is an absolute football wilderness, with winter drawing closer by the day. What have I let myself in for?

[neilhoskins77]

June 2015.

A single reporter from Eurosport greeted me when I arrived for the press conference to announce my appointment as manager of this club. I made him a cup of coffee. There was no one else around to do it. I told him that I was looking forward to the challenge of trying to move the club up the pyramid of football in this country, and honing my skills. At the same time, I hoped that we could produce football attractive and effective enough to pinch a few supporters from the ice hockey club, or at the very least, make them believe there was a valid choice to think about.

I then had a meeting with my new boss, the club's Chairman, a local by the name of Andrey Ovsyannikov. He informed me that my tenure with the club would be reviewed on a month to month basis, and that he would like to see the club achieve a position in the top half of the table. He also wants to see the club make it beyond the First Round of Kubok Rossii, the Russian Cup. He is not an easy guy to read, and I have no idea what his tolerance level will be if I can't meet the targets he is setting for us.

With little else to do at this point, I sat in my office going through tactical plans, and kept a keen eye on who the other clubs in our division were signing. With no staff to assist me at this point, that was the closest barometer I was going to get into what level of players I would need to be looking at for us. I also placed job adverts for all the major backroom roles at the club. The Chairman agreed it was an important aspect of our preparation, and put his hand in his pocket to fund adverts in nationwide football publications. I doubted the success of this tactic. We're an amateur club, who is going to cross the country to come and work for us for free? The sooner we get some people in to help though, the better, and I don't mind where they come from. The new season starts in less than six weeks. And I'm sick of making coffee already.

It wasn't long before players started to arrive at the club, and the standard was not too bad either. When I started comparing the calibre of players we were bringing in against the players signing for our rivals, I figured we weren't looking in too bad shape. However, signing backroom staff was becoming much more of a challenge. And with no staff on board, we couldn't consider arranging any pre season friendly matches, and had to make do with tough training sessions instead. The players who were free agents arrived at the club right away, while the ones who were leaving other clubs to come to Central, wouldn't arrive in the city until the 1st of July, which wasn't ideal with the first League match scheduled in for the 11th of the month.

It was three weeks into the month when staff finally started to take up jobs at the club, and we could get some proper work done in an enviroment that actually started to feel like a football club, albeit with limited player options. The staff calibre did not match the calibre of the players unfortunately, but we didn't have too much in the way of options, the response to our advertisments had been very poor. It got to the point where I couldn't afford to wait any longer, I needed staff to be in place for training to ramp up when the bulk of the players arrived at the start of next month. Staff members were brought in to take up roles that may not have necessarily been their area of expertise, while one would even double up, performing two job roles until more reinforcements could be found. With just a day or two left in the month, my backroom staff announced they have some information they needed to give me, and I finally get the feeling that we're starting to create a bit of a team here. That feeling quickly disappeared when the information they so desperately needed to give me was to let me know that I should pull the plug on all the deals to bring in the players that are due to arrive in a matter of days. I would have been ok with that had they had a list of players I should have been trying to sign instead. They didn't have so much as one suggestion. Good chat guys, thanks for your help!

[mark wilson27]

Looks like you've got a job an a half on with the club and a month to month contract sounds a little ominous . All the best with this one Neil.

[oche balboa]

Love this, random leagues again from Neil. What database are you using? 

[EvilDave]

Heck Neil, I'm impressed - the 10th tier of Russian football!? I'm not even sure your team exists, but even I know nothing about the game at that level - consider me following along!

[neilhoskins77]

On ‎13‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 07:56, mark wilson27 said:

Looks like you've got a job an a half on with the club and a month to month contract sounds a little ominous . All the best with this one Neil.

Yeah, the month to month deal could certainly be an issue Mark. There will be no job security, and a couple of bad results could see me quickly shoved out of the exit door.

 

On ‎13‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 08:41, oche balboa said:

Love this, random leagues again from Neil. What database are you using? 

A lot of the add on databases are from Sangue Blu. I'm led to believe they are more reliable than Classen's, which cause issues if you run too many of them.

 

11 hours ago, EvilDave said:

Heck Neil, I'm impressed - the 10th tier of Russian football!? I'm not even sure your team exists, but even I know nothing about the game at that level - consider me following along!

Dave, I'm not entirely sure if they exist either. I wasn't aware of the PRSLFK before I got into this save, but I'm led to understand that it is an actual league, but I'm not sure of the validity of the lower rungs. I'll tell you something for nothing, it's a hell of a job persuading players and staff to come into the club at this level, and it's going to be a long old season.

[neilhoskins77]

July 2015.

Ten days to go before the new domestic season starts, and we're short of players, have zero match practice, and have a backroom staff that is badly lacking in both quality and experience. It's difficult to see the start of the season going well if I'm honest. We address part of the problem by organising a friendly match at short notice with the side we share Central with, FC Magnitogorsk. Our semi-professional rivals are considerably more prepared for the new season than we are, at least in regards to personnel. They haven't played any pre season games either though, so the match scheduled for the afternoon of Monday the 6th is mutually beneficial. The opening day of the month also sees the draw for Round One of the Kubok Rosii. This would be a two legged affair, and we would play FC Anapa, a club from the same level as us, but they play in a different Group. We would face them on consecutive Wednesday afternoons right after our opening League match, and were made firm favourites to progress from the tie and reach our goal of the Second Round, which hopefully would please the Board.

With seven new players arriving at the club, training begins to ramp up in preparation for the campaign ahead. The backroom staff begin training a group of players that they don't believe are good enough for the club, and I tell them to prepare the players for a 4-2-3-1 formation that will rely on width. Thirteen players are now signed up for the club, with another one signed but not arriving until mid August. It goes without saying that we're badly short of reinforcements on the playing staff, and the process of trying to bring in players is ongoing every day, but it's very difficult to find players who are even remotely interested in playing here, and good enough to bring anything to the table.

In front of a little under 400 fans, who looked lost amongst the mass of empty seats in Central, we played our one and only warm up match. With not enough centre backs, there is a grey starting alongside the only centre back we've managed to bring into the club so far. We haven't yet managed to secure the signature of a shadow striker as yet, or anyone capable of playing in the attacking midfield role for that matter. The only position we do have some depth in, is strikers. One of those is tasked with the role of playing out of position behind the lone striker.

The early stages showed we had some players very capable of passing a football in the squad, with a good playing surface serving us well. You could drive an old Soviet army tank through the holes we were leaving at the back though, and our keeper, who had signed for us from our opponents less than a week ago, was called into action twice in the opening ten minutes alone, first catching a fiercly struck shot from the edge of the box, and then getting down low to turn a shot around the post from a similar position. In first half injury time, we were cut to pieces when a corner of our own was cut out at the near post, and full back Anton Pakhomov sprinted out of the box with the ball, and realised the entire right side of the park was free to move into. Showing an impressive turn of pace, he made it all the way to the edge of our box before being challenged, and he hurdled that and then crossed to the middle of the goalmouth, where Nikita Savinov steered the volley low into the corner.

A goal behind at the break, our two front men who were filling the striker and shadow striker roles, were both withdrawn and replaced with the two who had started the match on the bench. At the same time, our left winger was also brought off with an injury, with a grey winger replacing him. It didn't change our luck going forward, or our issues at the back, and as the hour approached, Savinov drove a cross low through the box from the left towards the far post, and Ruslam Nizamutdinov ran off the shoulder of our left back, and arrived just in time to have an angle to put the ball inside the post and double the advantage for FC Magnitogorsk. I replaced my grey centre back with another that was on the bench at the midway point of the second half. With 72 minutes on the clock, a sweeping move from right to left across the park yielded a goal back with our first shot on target of the afternoon. Our makeshift shadow striker from the bench collected a pass inside from our right back, and then sent the ball further across the park to our grey left winger. He found half a yard of room with a drop of the shoulder, and produced a toe poked finish that beat the keeper and found the net inside the post. That would turn out to be our only reward of the afternoon, and we were lucky to only lose by one goal, a corner for our higher ranked opponents saw a header back across goal to the near post that Savinov slammed at goal from close range, but our right back blocked on the line. It bounced back into the path of Evgeny Sobolkov, but his effort was also blocked. It's a defeat, but there were certainly some good things to take from the game, however our need for more squad depth is very evident.

[neilhoskins77]

July 2015 (cont).

With our first League match now just a matter of days away, it was with relief that two more players signed on the dotted line to play for us on the Wednesday afternoon. And it was even more of a result that the players would fill gaps in our lineup, as the two players were a centre back, and a player who could also fill the attacking midfield role amongst others. Later in the week, it was announced that the club would foot the bill for my Assistant Manager to start studying to upgrade his National A Licence to a UEFA C Licence. Hopefully he'll have a moment of inspiration that he can use towards his work when we open the domestic season at home to managerless FC Volgodonsk. We're slight favourites for the match, but with a heavy schedule in the opening weeks of the season, our small squad will need to be managed very carefully until we can get some more reinforcements in through the door. Speaking of the small squad, these are the pen pics for the squad of players and staff signed for the club as of the opening day of the campaign.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk 2015/16 Squad Player Profiles.

Goalkeepers.
#1. Dmitry Galyuk. 22 years old. Russian. 6'1. Goalkeeper.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- FC Magnitogorsk. Other Former Clubs :- None.
Poached from the local rivals, Galyuk looks a very reliable shot stopper. But he needs to make the start of the season count, as he has some interesting competition arriving in the middle of August.

Defenders.
#2. Pavel Kryukov. 27 years old. Russian. 5'11. Right Back.
Career Appearances :- 17. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- FC Troitsk 2001. Other Former Clubs. :- FC Dubna, Volochanin-Ratmir Vyshniy Volochek.
The new Club Captain, and very solid defensively. He might actually be much better going forward than his attributes and stats suggest too. Potentially a quality player.

#3. Artur Yamgurzin. 27 years old. Russian. 6'4. Left Back.
Career Appearances :- 37. Career Goals :- 1.
Signed From :- Free Agent. Other Former Clubs :- Torpedo Miass, Shakhter Korkino, FC Chelyabinsk.
Very tall for a full back, which might come in useful if we struggle to attract more centre backs to the club. Just like his right back colleague, could be under rated going forward.

#5. Artem Zherebin. 25 years old. Russian. 6'0. Centre Back.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- Metallurg Asha. Other Former Clubs :- Ural-D.
Signed just days before our domestic season starts. Brings a very steadying influence to our defence, and is likely to be a week in and week out seven out of ten guy.

#4. Dmitry Yagodinskiy. 21 years old. Russian. 6'2. Centre Back.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- Pontos Vityazevo. Other Former Clubs :- Lada Togliatti
A good quick young centre back who might be a bit raw, but is only going to get better, especially with the regular football he is likely to get with us this season. One to keep an eye on.

Midfielders/Wingers.
#15. Vladimir Iljin. 46 years old. Russian. 5'8. Attacking Midfielder, Left Winger.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- FC Gukovo. Other Former Clubs :- None.
The other latecomer to the squad, and clearly his biggest downside is his age. He doesn't even bring playing experience to the squad, as he hasn't played for years. But he can play the shadow striker role, and right now, that will do for us.

#7. Sasha Palatnikov. 26 years old. Russian/South African/Hong Kong. 5.9. Centre Midfielder.
Career Appearances :- 10. Career Goals :- 1.
Signed From :- Free Agent. Other Former Clubs :- Lucky Mile (HK), Happy Valley Athletic Association (HK), Club Colts (HK).
A familiar name from a previous save. However, we'll need to wait till the new year before we see Palatnikov in action. He is currently locked up in a Hong Kong jail for robbery, but will make his way to Magnitogorsk once he is released.

#14. Konstantin Kamenskiy. 22 years old. Russian. 6'0. Centre Midfielder.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- FC Nogliki. Other Former Clubs :- Smena Komsomolsk-na-Amure.
Not good enough to play for our club say the backroom staff. I disagree, and I think the 6'0 midfielder with great physical stats may actually prove to be one of the finds of the summer. Versatile enough to play any midfield role competently.

#12. Timur Gogolidze. 21 years old. Russian. 5'11. Centre Midfielder.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- FC Ufa. Other Former Clubs :- None.
Another who could flourish given the opportunity to play regular first team football. A very good passer of the ball, he has the potential to improve leaps and bounds with us.

#6. Alexandr Patokin. 24 years old. Russian. 5'7. Left Winger, Right Winger.
Career Appearances :- 5. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- Free Agent. Other Former Clubs :- Taganrogskaya Ptitsefabrika Novoprimorskiy, FC Taganrog.
Right footed, but prefers to play on the left wing. Blessed with great pace, and a very high work rate, but may be prone to picking niggly injuries that restrict his game time.

#8. Vladislav Evseev. 18 years old. Russian/Irish. 5'8. Right Winger, Attacking Midfielder, Centre Midfielder.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- Dundalk (IRE). Other Former Clubs :- None.
Just 18, but already stating he would struggle to choose his national allegiance between Russia or Ireland. Versatile, but much less effective in the middle than he is on the right wing. Another to keep an eye on after failing to make the grade with Dundalk.

Strikers.
#10. Daniil Oladapo. 18 years old. Russian. 6'2. Striker.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- Benevento (ITA). Other Former Clubs :- Chieti (ITA).
The teenage striker decided quickly that he wouldn't make the grade in Italy when Serie C club Benevento released him. Returns to Russia where he'll be hoping to find his scoring touch, though probably wasn't counting on such strong competition for game time.

#11. Alexandr Stepanov. 26 years old. Russian. 5'11. Striker.
Career Appearances :- 41. Career Goals :- 2.
Signed From :- Zvezda St. Petersburg. Other Former Clubs :- Rus St. Petersburg, Mashuk-KMV Pyatigorsk, Stavropolje-2009 Stavropol, Spartak Nalchik.
Brings something to the squad that the other strikers don't have, and I don't just mean a lack of height. He has played football at a much higher level than this, and his experience could be invaluable over the season. Needs to improve his poor scoring record though.

#9. Alexey Suzov. 23 years old. Russian. 6'3. Striker.
Career Appearances :- 9. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- Free Agent. Other Former Clubs :- Fosforit Kingisepp, FC Piter St. Petersburg, Victoria Gatchina.
Big things are expected of this 23 year old striker. He has the physical attributes to find a yard of space in a phone box, and combines his size with very good pace and a nose for goal. Could become the clubs star player.

#13. Vladislav Aleksin. 22 years old. Uzbek/Russian. 6'3. Striker.
Career Appearances :- 0. Career Goals :- 0.
Signed From :- Pontos Vityazevo. Other Former Clubs :- Sparta Schelkovo, Mettalurg Lipetsk, Dinamo Samarqand (UZK), Zarafshov-NCV Navoyi (UZK).
Never got a game anywhere he's been, and never stuck around long enough to fight for his place. Like Suzov, he is physically good, and may just need one to go in for him to light the touchpaper and show he's capable.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk 2015/16 Staff.

Club Chairman :- Andrey Ovsyannikov. Russian. Will Never Leave While He Has A Choice.
First Team Manager :- Neil Hoskins. 37 years old. Welsh. National C Licence.
Director of Football :- Murad Gadjiev. 42 years old. Russian. UEFA C Licence.
First Team Assistant Manager :- Maxim Guz'. 31 years old. Russian. National A Licence.
Chief Scout :- Rustam Gadjiev. 41 years old. Russian. National B Licence.
Scout :- Umar Karsanov. 42 years old. Russian. National B Licence.
Head of Youth Development/Scout :- Petr Britovskiy. 43 years old. Russian. National B Licence.
Coach :- Rustam Shatakov. 46 years old. Russian. National B Licence.
Reserve Team Manager :- Vyacheslav Valeev. 39 years old. Russian. UEFA C Licence.
Under-18 Team Manager :- Kirill Antipov. 45 years old. Russian. National B Licence.

[neilhoskins77]

July 2015 (cont).

The glaring omission from that staff list is the name of a physio. And that's because we don't have one as the season begins. So when I'm informed that winger Alexandr Patokin is not fit for the season opener at Central on Saturday afternoon, I have no choice but to believe what I'm being told. Usually, I'd be very quick to point an accusing finger at any well paid player for missing an important match due to a bruised head, but as Patokin, like everyone else, is doing this without any payment, I don't do any pointing at all. It is certainly an area that needs addressing, but we may have to call on lady luck to help us out there though, as there has been zero interest in the job to date.

Saturday 11th July 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v FC Volgodonsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexey Khlynov; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Marat Shashkov, Rafael Deriglazov, Grigory Naumov, David Alexeev, Artur Shleev, Daniil Oladapo, Alexandr Stepanov, Vladislav Aleksin.

The day that every football fan craves has arrived. On the opening day of the season, anything seems possible, dreams of glorious victory are alive and well. For most, those dreams are quickly destroyed, and the reality of abject disappointment sets in quickly. I was hoping the latter would hit the FC Volgodonsk side very, very early in the season. The side almost picks itself, with the only decision to be made being which of our strikers starts up front, with Alexey Suzov getting the nod, and the other three all sit on the bench, which is one player short. There is a grey in the lineup too, as Alexey Khlynov starts in the left wing role vacated by the missing Alexandr Patokin.

A good turnout for the opening day, and Pavel Kryukov, our newly appointed skipper, showed some opening day over exuberance with a mistimed challenge, and picked up a yellow card inside two minutes. With ten minutes on the clock, Kryukov sprayed a pass from the right touchline on halfway, and freed up Alexey Khlynov on the left. The ball came back inside through Timur Goglidze and Vladimir Iljin, before Konstantin Kamenskiy received the ball and played a through ball that released Alexey Suzov, who clipped his shot over the onrushing keeper, but it also cleared the cross bar.

Goalless at half time, and with neither side able to stamp their authority on the match, a close fought if not dramatic second half looked on the cards. That trend from the first half continued when the match restarted, and with the second half midway through, a tired Goglidze left the park, with Iljin dropping back into centre midfield, and Alexandr Stepanov asked to do a job in the shadow striker role. When that didn't make any difference, I tried some more fresh legs in the 77th minute, as Kamenskiy took his leave, and someone else was asked to play out of position, this time grey right winger David Alexeev. Neither side could come with anything to break the status quo on this match though, and both started the season with a point.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (0) 0 FC Volgodonsk (0) 0
Scorers : None.
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy (David Alexeev 77), Timur Gogolidze (Alexandr Stepanov 68); Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexey Khlynov; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 996. Man of the Match :- Oleg Markosov (FC Volgodonsk).

Vladislav Evssev makes history as the youngest player in the history of 4.PRSLFK Group 10. At the other end of spectrum, Vladimir Iljin also makes history as the oldest. I doubt very much there has been a game where you see both records broken in the same match. The post match reports from the media and the fans forums see most of the good comments directed at Alexey Suzov, though there was mention that he could have won us the game with the best chance that we created. Meanwhile the backroom staff mention in their match wrap up that they believe that Vladislav Evseev could actually be an effective influence on the right wing, which is a bit of a back track on their initial assessment.

On Sunday the club announce that 250 season tickets have been sold, and as a side note, they also mention that Wednesday is a big day for the club. We host the First Leg of our Kubok Rossii First Round tie with FC Anapa of Group 15, and with the competition held in high regard with Russian football fans, a bumper crowd is expected at Central. The Board state that it would be a great day to put on a big showing, and hopefully persuade some of those fans to make their attendance more than just a one off. The fans themselves believe this is a draw that gives us a very realistic chance of reaching the Second Round, and dream of a glamour tie with one of Russia's elite clubs. While not wanting to appear to be a killjoy, there is also the task of managing expectations, and in the pre match press conference, I state that preparations for this match would be no different to that of a match with a team from a higher league. The local media decide to interpret that as me being concerned that we may not win the tie.

Wednesday 15th July 2015 - Kubok Rossii, First Round First Leg.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v FC Anapa.
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexey Khlynov; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Marat Shashkov, Rafael Deriglazov, Grigory Naumov, David Alexeev, Daniil Oladapo, Alexandr Stepanov, Vladislav Aleksin.

Just four days after opening our League campaign, then our shot at Cup glory gets underway in front of a crowd that is double the number that attended Saturday's match. We need to get through this round to meet the Boards target of reaching Round Two, and give ourselves a chance of a plum two legged tie. With no new faces arriving between Saturday and this afternoon's match, the squad remains exactly the same, apart from one less grey substitute, as Artur Shleev is removed from the squad.

After an even opening spell of the game, a misplaced cross by Aidar Gaidukov from FC Anapa's left wing brought about the start of a rip roaring spell for us. Dmitry Galyuk collected the poor cross and sent a huge clearance upfield, which Alexey Suzov headed down, climbing above two defenders to do so. His knock down to the left wing was latched onto by grey winger Alexey Khlynov, who sent the ball into midfield, and Vladislav Evseev, who had come infield. Pavel Kryukov overlapped at pace on the right wing, Evseev found him, and the Captain delivered a low cross that Vladimir Iljin arrived onto with perfect timing, and the veteran forward sidefooted home to give us an 18th minute lead. Just moments later, and we had doubled our advantage. Artur Yamgurzin sent over a left footed corner towards the back post, and centre back Dmitry Yagodinskiy rose highest, and planted a fierce header between the defender on the post and the keeper.

We weren't done there either. Konstantin Kamenskiy broke up play in midfield, and sent the ball left to Khlynov. He fed the ball in for Iljin, who looked as if he was about to net for a second time, but his shot came back off the upright. However, the job was completed for him, as it rebounded off Stanislav Maslov, and past his own keeper, barely creeping over the line. That was three goals in a five minute spell. Still the chances continued to be created, and after a series of corners, Yamgurzin picked up his second assist of the evening, another corner delivery, this one towards the penalty spot, and Alexey Suzov connected with a glancing downward header that found it's way into the net with four minutes remaining in the first half.

A four goal lead at the break, and the match, maybe even the tie, were both out of our opponents reach. That didn't mean we were going to take our foot off the gas. No sir. Ten minutes into the second half, and Kryukov went on a marauding run from his right back spot, over halfway and into centre field, and then deeper into the half. A neat one-two with Iljin, and he put the ball through the defensive line into the box, and Suzov was onto it, shooting across goal and inside the far post to net his second of the night, and our fifth.

As the hour mark passed, I made two changes, moving Iljin onto the left wing, and bringing off Khlynov, allowing Vladislav Aleksin to come on and play in the shadow striker role, and bringing on grey centre back Marat Shashkov in place of Yagodinskiy, who was starting to fall off the pace a little in the back four Just one minute later, we netted our sixth, and Yamgurzin completed his hat trick of assists. The left back received the ball back following a short throw, and gave the ball to Iljin. He continued his run down the touchline and Iljin played him right back in. With all the space and time he needed, he picked out a great low cross for right winger Vladislav Evseev, who arrived at the far post to slam the ball into the net from close range, and join the list of players netting their first goals for the club on this sunny July afternoon. I made my final change midway through the half, with Kamenskiy coming off and teenage striker Daniil Oladapo came on for his debut, though he was playing well out of position in centre midfield. I just wanted the lad to get some game time under his belt with the match already won. Apart from a couple of wild lashes at goal from range by Susov as he attempted to complete his treble, this match was over.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (4) 6 FC Anapa (0) 0
Scorers : Vladimir Iljin (18), Dmitry Yagodinskiy (21), Stanislav Maslov (23 o.g), Alexey Suzov (41,55), Vladislav Evseev (62)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy (Marat Shashkov 61), Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy (Daniil Oladapo 68), Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexey Khlynov (Vladislav Aleksin 61); Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 1,976. Man of the Match :- Alexey Suzov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

Now that's more like it! Nearly 2,000 fans were very happy with what they saw this afternoon, and we're all but guarenteed our place in Round Two. The only sticking point as far as the fans were concerned was the disappointing cameo performance of Daniil Oladapo, though they appear to be ignoring the fact that he played well out of position in a game that was already done as a contest when he came on. They were much more impressed by Pavel Kryukov and Alexey Suzov, hopefully impressed enough that they'll be back on Saturday, when we return to League action. The win is the biggest in the clubs history, and the biggest in Kubol Rossii history. We certainly have something to build on.

[neilhoskins77]

July 2015 (cont).

No rest for the players who did such a great job in the Cup game in midweek, as they are headed straight into another League match on Saturday afternoon, a home match with Irtysh Tobolsk. The bookies are still playing it safe with their odds, making us Even money favourites by virtue of the home advantage. We'll be taking them on without any extra reinforcements, as despite best efforts of everyone at the club, we haven't managed to get any more new signings since our last match. We have to keep trying to bulk out the numbers on the playing staff, or we're going to end up with a squad of players not fit enough to play on a game by game basis, or worse still, over run by injuries.

Saturday 18th July 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v Irtysh Tobolsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Marat Shashkov, Rafael Deriglazov, Grigory Naumov, Alexey Khlynov, David Alexeev, Alexandr Stepanov, Vladislav Aleksin, Daniil Oladapo.

Our third game in the opening week of the season, and a third at home as we return to League action with a match against Irtysh Tobolsk. There is one change to the lineup, with a debut for Alexandr Patokin on the left wing, with Alexey Khlynov dropping down to the bench in his place. Rostislav Sobolev managed to roll a defender and place a ball nicely into the feet of Khamzat Novoselov in the 8th minute, but he didn't realise how much time he had, and snatched at the chance somewhat, putting it wide of the post. Just over ten minutes later, and we were in front, in what our visitors believed were very contreversial circumstances. From the centre of the park, Timur Goglidze spotted the forward run of right back Pavel Kryukov, and the skipper got to the byline before standing the ball up into the middle. Imamkhan Khodjaev headed it clear, but Goglidze headed it back into the box from 25 yards out. Alexey Suzov timed his run in front of Timofey Kaloshin, and glanced a header delicately past him and into the corner of the net. The Irtysh defence had stepped up, well, three quarters of them had anyway. Their left back was a little slow to do so, and it was he that played Suzov onside, and our striker notched his third of the season.

We had been the bosses for the most part in the first half, and looked good value for our lead. We couldn't make it stick though, and as the clock wound down to around five minutes left in the half, Sobolev lifted forward a ball that Dmitry Yagodinskiy misjudged, and Victor Okorochlov didn't hesitate to get onto the ball, and curled his low shot past Dmitry Galyuk and into the net to level the game, a goal which their play had scarecly deserved at that point, it was their first shot on target. It certainly changed the mood of my half time team talk, which could have been quite upbeat, and was now more like an arse kicking.

My words were taken well, and within 18 seconds of the restart, we were back in front. Alexandr Patokin moved infield off his wing, and found Gogolidze. The midfielder picked his pass to Vladimir Iljin, and the veteran played his pass in turn into the box for Suzov, who again looked suspiciously close to being offside. He didn't wait for the flag, going in on goal and finding the net once more with a great low finish. Fedor Kravtsov, one of the three players brought on by Irtysh at the break, complained too loudly, and earned himself a yellow card, quickly joined by Patokin, who halted a counter attack with a not quite sneaky enough tug of an opponents jersey.

I made a pair of changes just shy of the hour, with Artem Zherebin replaced by Marat Shashkov, and Goglidze brought off for Alexandr Stepanov. That meant Vladimir Iljin moving back into centre midfield again, but didn't stop the veteran being the furthest placed forward to chase down Artur Yamgurzin's long ball down the left channel. Iljin caught up with the ball on the byline, and then rolled it back towards the corner of the box, where Patokin was waiting. He made up for his booking by moving the ball onto his right foot, and unleashing a curling shot beyond the keepers reach and into the far top corner, a wonderful way to introduce himself on his debut.

The fans were unimpressed when Suzov was taken off as he was looking to get his hat-trick, but with a hectic schedule, I didn't see that as a good enough reason to keep on the man who is already looking like our best source of goals. He was replaced by Daniil Oladapo. Moments later, David Chvanov's run down their right is brought to an abrupt halt by Yamgurzin, who played a diagonal ball that put their Irtysh defence on their heels, and Alexandr Stepanov sprinted beyond them and in on goal, drawing the keeper, before firing his shot past him and just under the cross bar, opening his account for the club. If we hadn't done a good enough job of asserting our domination in the first half, we had blown our opponents away in the second, and their goal was the only shot on target they managed throughout the entire match.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) 4 Irtysh Tobolsk (1) 1
Scorers : Alexey Suzov (19,46), Alexandr Patokin (66), Alexandr Stepanov (74)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy (Marat Shashkov 59), Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze (Alexandr Stepanov 59); Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov (Daniil Oladapo 72).
Attendance :- 995. Man of the Match :- Vladimir Iljin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

 Alexandr Patokin's debut goal certainly earned him some praise from the local sports media, while Vladimir Iljin was showing that age was very much just a number, as he notched two assists, and earned the man of the match award. Those who had said he was too old to be of any use to us this season were being made to eat their words by the 46 year old. We now had a few days to get our players rested an recuperated before the return leg in the Kobol Rossii against FC Anapa, in what would be a four day double header, as we would play Spartak Anapa next in the League away from home next weekend.

[neilhoskins77]

July 2015 (cont).

Our recruitment drive had stalled for a period considerably longer than I'd have liked, but on the day we're travelling to Anapa for the first time, we get our first new player for two weeks. So a very welcome signing, and even more so that the player arriving brings some versatility to the squad as well. 26 year old Kirill Uryupin is a Free Agent who counts Dinamo Moscow amongst his former clubs. They had signed the St. Petersburg native from Lokomotiv St. Petersburg, and that was where he headed back to after a couple of seasons of failing to get into the First Team in Moscow. His fortunes didn't improve back in his home town though, and he tried a couple of the other St. Petersburg teams, though neither Neva or Zvezda gave him his big First Team break. After a bit of time away from the game, he has now dropped down the levels to turn out for us, and is a natural left footer who can play anywhere down that side of the park, so provides both competition and cover for Artur Yamgurzin and Alexandr Patokin. He has signed in time to be available for our Second Leg match in the Kubol Rossii First Round, as we travel to face FC Anapa with a six goal advantage from the opening match of the tie.

Wednesday 22nd July 2015 - Kubol Rossii, First Round Second Leg.
FC Anapa Stadium, Anapa.
FC Anapa (0) v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (6).
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Marat Shashkov, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexey Khlynov; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Rafael Deriglazov, Kirill Uryupin, Alexandr Patokin, Daniil Oladapo, Alexandr Stepanov, Vladislav Aleksin.

In a match with very little on it, I could afford to make some changes, though the first issue with that was the extreme lack of options at my disposal still. Up front, Alexey Suzov could be rested, but with a brace in each of his last two games, he wanted to play. Alexandr Patokin would be rested on the left, as he is still behind on match fitness compared to the other players after missing a couple of early season games. While Kirill Uryupin was available, he would not last the full duration, so grey winger Alexey Khlynov is recalled and starts the match. The other change I make also allows another grey player a chance to impress, as Marat Shashkov is given another chance at centre back, and Dmitry Yagodinskiy is rested on the bench.

From the off, it was clear that the home side had zero intention of attempting to get themselves back into the tie, as they wasted the little possession they did get by blasting the ball up the park when there was no straightforward pass available. Alexey Suzov wasted a 10th minute chance when Vladimir Iljin played him into space in the box with a neat little reverse pass, his shot lacking any kind of real power or conviction. A minute later and Suzov's hold up work was much better than his finishing. After we predictably won the ball right back, Suzov moved into the channel to chest down Pavel Kryukov's ball down the touchline. He held it up until Konstantin Kamenskiy found some space and collected the pass, before sending it forward to Iljin. His short square pass found Timur Gogolidze, who then picked out the run off Alexey Khlynov into the box. The winger didn't risk taking a touch to settle the ball with a defender closing in on him, instead opting for a half volley finish that Georgy Gerdt and added an away goal to our already huge advantage with eleven minutes on the clock, not that away goals counted for any extra in this tournament.

The job was done, and the foot came squarely off the gas, forcing FC Anapa's beleagured players to chase our short passing around all afternoon instead. Our opponents made all three of their changes at the break, switching up their keeper and two defenders. Vladimir Iljin earned a needless yellow card early in the second half, and in the 64th minute, Marat Shashkov came off to give Dmitry Yagodinskiy some game time and Gogolidze was brought off for Vladislav Aleksin, which again meant Iljin moving back into centre midfield, with Aleksin the latest to earn some game time, albeit away from his normal position. Goalscorer Khlynov made his exit with a few minutes left and Alexandr Patokin made a brief cameo appearance on the left wing, but the second half of the match produced nothing resembling excitement in any way. It didn't need to as far as we were concerned.

FC Anapa (0) 0 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) 1 - (Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk win 7-0 on aggregrate)
Scorers : Alexey Khlynov (11)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Marat Shashkov (Dmitry Yagodinskiy 64), Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze (Vladislav Aleksin 64); Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexey Khlynov (Alexandr Patokin 87); Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 93. Man of the Match :- Timur Gogolidze (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

So it turned out that our First Round tie was exactly as comfortable as the media predicted before the First Leg, and we move serenely into Round Two, which means the Board are happy. Now if we can stay in the top half of the table, they'll see it as job done. The following day, we would join over 1,000 other teams in the draw for the Round Two ties. Ideally we would either be looking for a heavyweight, or someone that we could steamrolller quite easily to push on into Round Three and give ourselves some more kudos with the Board members in case we hit a rough spell. What we get is a bit closer to the latter side of the scale, as we are drawn to face an eigth tier club, FC Tikhoretsk. They are also amateurs, and in 2.PRSLFK, where from their three League matches to date, they have a win, a draw, and a loss to their names. We would play the first leg away from home, but before that we have three more League matches to negotiate.

The first of those would be an immediate return to Anapa, where this time we would be the visitors at the much bigger Spartak Stadium, home of Spartak UGP Anapa, which they share with fellow tenth tier side Urengoigazprom Anapa, with Spartak also taking part of the sponsorship name into their own moniker. Spartak's form in the Cup has been more impressive than their pair of League outings so far, as they won both legs of their Kubol Rossii tie to progress into Round Two, but have earned only a single point in the League, and are still searching for their first goal in that competition. That said, the home side are made favourites for the match, though that may well be taking into account that we're making the 1,500+ mile trip for the second time in four days, as our hosts are in the extreme south-west corner of the country, situated on the shores of the Black Sea and near the disputed territory of Crimea.

When we did leave for that second trip to Anapa, we would have another two new players along with us, as we continued to seek ways to improve both the quality and depth of our squad. Another left footer joined our ranks, as 23 year old Evgeny Korota bolstered our options on the left side of the park. The defensive minded full back has spent his entire career to date with Metallurg Asha in the third tier, but failed to crack their lineup. Joining him is a much needed central midfielder, as 31 year old David Arabachyan arrives at the club. This will be the first time he has dropped outside the first four tiers of football in this country, having started out with Burevestnik Moscow, and getting his real break with Presnya Moscow ten years ago. That earned him a move to Fortuna Mytishi, where he became a regular for a few years. When he fell out of favour, he moved onto Chaika Yubileiny, but never featured for them. A solid if unspectacular player, he can do a job at most midfield duties, and will bring experience and leadership to our dressing room. It was great to have some more options, but the list of players who had knocked us back and signed elsewhere, or even decided to remain as free agents, was very lengthy.

Saturday 25th July 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Spartak, Anapa.
Spartak UGP Anapa v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Evgeny Korota, Rafael Deriglazov, Kirill Uryupin, David Arabachyan, Daniil Oladapo, Alexandr Stepanov, Vladislav Aleksin.

Both Dmitry Yagodinskiy and Alexandr Patokin are restored to the starting lineup for this League match, while their midweek replacements of Marat Shashkov and Alexey Khlynov both disappear from the squad. Our three latest signings are all included on the bench in this matchday squad, so while we are two substitutes down on our opponents, only one of them is a grey now, and that is our back up keeper, with our signed second goalmouth custodian not due to arrive until mid August.

The match could not have started much worse for us, a long ball from the centre of the park was sent into our right side, and Pavel Kryukov was caught out by the pace of Danila Saraikin. His second error was to then allow the young winger to get the ball onto his left foot and play a cross into the near post area, where Artem Zherebin was slow to pick up the run of Timur Saraev, who prodded the ball into the net from close range. The goal was officially timed at 19 seconds, but it was actually closer to 15 ticks on the clock when it went in. An appalling start to the match. It didn't get any better for Kryukov, when he was booked with less than five minutes gone.

We got our act together a bit after that, but Spartak were a tough nut to crack, and defended well to leave us still a goal behind at the break. The players were told not to panic, and to get their heads into the game, and start passing the ball around as I've asked them to do from day one. Spartak made their three changes all within ten minutes of the second half starting, and change was more defensive than the last as they sought to hold onto what they had. Their final change saw another defender come on for their left winger that had provided the first goal.

As the second half reached the halfway point, I made two changes. Timur Gogolidze came off, with David Arabachyan came on for his debut. The second change required a bit of reshuffling. Vladimir Iljin came off, and Kirill Uryupin came on. He would play on the left wing, with Alexandr Patokin moving to the right side, and Vladislav Evseev went into the middle to play behind Alexey Susov. That move almost paid immediate rewards, as Evseev played Uryupin into space on the left, and his deep cross picked out the head of Patokin, who sent his effort wide of the post when he had an almost unguarded net to aim at. With just under 20 minutes left, Vladislav Aleksin came on to join Suzov up front, replacing Konstantin Kamenskiy, and Evseev dropping back into midfield. Aleksin would pick up a booking around five minutes after his introduction, a tackle born out of frustration that we were still behind despite now pushing Spartak back into their own defensive third for long spells.

Aleksin then had a chance to level the match with ten minutes left on the clock, defender Magomed Kuleshov wanted far too much time to decide what he would do with the ball, and when he eventually chose to put his foot through it, he cleared it right against Aleksin and then could do little as the ball bounced back past him and the Uzbek striker bore down on goal. He appeared to have kept his cool well, and to have picked his spot when he slid the ball past Rustem Mishin, but it rebounded right back to the keeper off the base of the upright, and we remained a goal behind.

When we did finally manage to break down our hosts in the 87th minute, it was almost a replica of an earlier chance. This time it was Suzov who had the ball in the middle, and realising he had few options right, he spun, and picked out Uryupin on the left in acres of space. This time his cross was floated across, and while Patokin didn't make the best connection ever with his head, Mishin couldn't keep it out, and we had our equaliser, and our deserved point.

Or not. As the clock struck ninety, Uryupin was released once more down the left, this time after good holding up work by Aleksin. His cross to the far post picked out Patokin again, and the winger produced a stunning bicycle kick effort that bounced away off the outside of the post. And from a potential three points, we suddenly had nothing. Into the third minute of injury time, substitute Karim Solosin won a corner after his attempted cross was blocked behind by Artur Yamgurzin. Midfielder, Damir Khorzunov took it, and with our players seemingly more interested in tying up Spartaks forwards who had gone into the box, home Captain and centre back Sergej Amelin wandered unmarked to the edge of the six yard box, and thumped the bouncing ball home to send us home with nothing. Frustrating.

Spartak UGP Anapa (1) 2 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (0) 1
Scorers :- Alexandr Patokin (87)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy (Vladislav Aleksin 72), Timur Gogolidze (David Arabachyan 66); Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin (Kirill Uryupin 66), Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 884. Man of the Match :- Konstantin Kamenskiy (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

Kirill Uryupin's cameo debut performance had been the highlight of what would ultimately be a disappointing afternoon. The arrival of David Arabachyan into the squad also coaxed a man of the match performance out of Konstantin Kamenskiy before he was eventually replaced to allow an extra striker onto the park. On the plus side, we now have a week before our next match for the first time this season, and that will give us some much needed recuperation time, and to try and get some work done on the training ground before we play our next fixture, a home League match next weekend against Titan Moscow.

By the time we play our next match, we will be into August, and we finish July with two more recruits added into the ranks. The Monday after the trip to Spartak sees Abdulla Zilpukarov join the club. The 31 year old is a right back that has good pedigree, as he has spent the last few years in the top flight of Azerbaijan football, which is where his ancestors hail from. A couple of seasons with Leki Magaramkent in the Russian third tier didn't look like it would do too much to enhance his reputation, but he must have been doing something right, Sahdag Qusar picked him up. And after a season with them, he moved onto one of the leading clubs in the former Soviet state, as he joined Qaradag Lokbatan. Unfortunately, that was where his career stalled, and now he finds himself well down the Russian football pyramid, and needing to impress to lever Pavel Kryukov out of the starting eleven.

Later the same day, we finally get a physio appointed, as we poach 46 year old Evgeny Timeev from FC Magnitogorsk. Needless to say, they are not happy that we have convinced our newly arrived Head Physio to cross camps at Central, and relations between the two clubs are strained a little. By midweek our backroom staff is improved a little more, as our 46 year old forward Vladimir Iljin agrees to combine his playing duties with taking up the assistant managers role for our Under-18's side. The veteran states that he is relishing the prospect of his new role. He'll have some company more around his own age on the playing staff going forward as well. With Iljin proving that age is just a number, I'm left with no qualms about bringing in another player that would be long retired in League's of good quality. Vladimir Matveev is now 45 years old, and has a great left foot. He likes to play as an advanced winger, and still had good physical qualities and is very responsible defensively. We've pinched him on a Free Transfer from Shakhter Likhoy, who play a tier above us in 3.PRSLFK.

[oche balboa]

Wow a draw with 1,000 teams 

 

good story mate KUTGW 

[neilhoskins77]

On ‎19‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 12:07, oche balboa said:

Wow a draw with 1,000 teams 

 

good story mate KUTGW 

Pity the poor sod who has to read out the football results on Radio or TV eh. Cheers mate.

[neilhoskins77]

August 2015.

The new month starts with good news from the Board, as the club made a profit of close on £4,000 in July, and the financial projection for the club going forward is good. A nice run in Kobol Rossii to produce some more large home attendances would certainly be a plus as well. They are also very happy with the signing of Vladimir Iljin, who they believe is a great addition to the squad, and I agree with them there. However, the good news I'm looking for to start of the new month is getting back on the winning trail, and we have a chance to do that on the first day of August with a home League game.

Saturday 1st August 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v Titan Moscow.
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Rafael Deriglazov, Kirill Uryupin, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Vladimir Matveev, Vladislav Aleksin, Daniil Oladapo, Alexandr Stepanov.

This is the closest we've come to a full matchday squad so far, with the only grey player in the squad this time being substitute keeper Rafael Deriglazov. Our two latest arrivals, Abdulla Zilpukarov and Vladislav Matveev, are both on the bench for this match, as the starting lineup remains as it was for the defeat last weekend in Anapa. Sunshine and showers greeted the two sides on the opening day of August, as the match started with a rain shower that got increasingly heavy during the opening spell of the match.

The rain had just started to ease off in the 21st minute when Timur Gogolidze appeared to be running into nothing but trouble as he tried to make ground down the left wing. He solved his problem by sending a neat backheeled pass back to left back Artur Yamgurzin, and he whipped a diagonal deep cross in first time, and it cut the Titan defence in half, Vladislav Evseev running onto it and tucking it into the net to open the scoring. A goal to the good, and the rain starting to fall again, we wasted no time in getting a second just over five minutes later. When a short throw on the left was headed back to Yamgurzin, he did well to do anything with it as it came to him at an awkward height. He thumped it almost as high as it was forward, and it looped into the box, where Evseev met it at the far post and headed it back across the face of goal, and Vladimir Iljin met it to head it beyond Beslan Galimov and double our lead.

In fairness to the Titan Moscow side, they didn't throw in the towel, and right from kick off they pulled a goal back. Midfielder Zurab Kozlov was the catalyst for the goal, dropping his shoulder and showing some skill to keep the ball under pressure, and then find Yegor Zemtsov, who produced a cool finish, beating Dmitry Galyuk to half our lead. We could have had that lead back to a two goal one before the halfway mark, Konstantin Kamenskiy doing well in midfield and going right to Evseev, and he crossed well, picking out Alexey Suzov, the striker thumping his shot goalwards, but Galimov standing firm and pushing the shot aside.

Titan Moscow clearly didn't bring a spare set of their all white kit, as they emerged for the second half in the same muddy clothing that they had finished the first half with. In fact the only change at the restart was to personnel, most surprisingly to the visitors goalkeeper, with Galimov taken off, and replaced by Tikhon Golikov. If Galimov was being blamed for either of the goals, then he was being treated harshly in my opinion. They also changed one of their centre backs at the same time, and with the second half just moments old, used their final change to replace Kozlov, who had set up their goal. One of their subs, Suleyman Kanchelskis, was booked less than a minute after coming on.

It was the 64th minute when I turned to my own bench, and made all three substitutions at the same time. Suzov had been fairly ineffective, and was replaced by Alexandr Stepanov up front. Iljin also came off, replaced by Vladislav Aleksin who was again asked to perform slightly out of position. The final change saw Alexandr Patokin replaced by Vladimir Matveev, who would make his debut for the club. He would be part of a second half that produced little apart from more rain. The best chance of the half fell to the visitors, from just inside our half with ten minutes left, Kazbek Boldyrev lifted a ball forward that caught out defence flat footed, and Fler Osipov raced onto it, slotting the ball past Galyuk, but it was the wrong side of the post as far as Titan were concerned. It wasn't a classic performance by any means, but we'd had the best of the game and the possession, and got ourselves back into the winning habit.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (2) 2 Titan Moscow (1) 1
Scorers :- Vladislav Evseev (21), Vladimir Iljin (27)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin (Vladislav Aleksin 64), Alexandr Patokin (Vladimir Matveev 64); Alexey Suzov (Alexandr Stepanov 64).
Attendance :- 987. Man of the Match :- Vladislav Evssev (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

The Moscow based club made their way back to the capital with nothing to show for their trip apart from a high washing bill to try and get that away match kit white again. The fans were happy to see another player get his debut for the club, and they were intrigued to see what Vladimir Matveev could bring to the team in the coming weeks. The highest praise was reserved for Vladislav Evseev however, the 18 year old notching a goal and an assist in his man of the match display, and further enhancing his reputation. Quite honestly, I think we might have a challenge keeping him at the club long term.

Speaking of long term, after the win over Titan Moscow, I'm visited in the office by Vyacheslav Valeev, and Kirill Antipov, managers of the Reserve and Under-18 sides. Both are concerned by the lack of players they have to select for their respective sides, with a full schedule of League fixtures just about to start. With the situation explained to both, namely that we're struggling to get enough players in for the First Team, never mind provide players to another two sides. After a fairly lengthy chat, it's decided the most sensible thing all around with no intake due till the Spring, is to hand contracts to the pick of the grey's currently with the Reserve and Under-18 sides. That way we can start to develop those players, making their games more meaningful, and producing another wave of players at two different levels to supplement the First Team should we lose players down the line.

It's a good plan all around, especially being as we're not paying any of the players a wage. Six are signed for the Reserve Squad, central defenders Marat Shashkov and Oleg Yurchenko, midfielders Victor Karpukhin and Alan Kotsyubinskiy, winger Alexey Khlynov, and striker Yury Yarkin, all four are aged 19 or 20, and Shashkov and Khlynov have both already played for the First Team, though they will both be hoping to try and get their official debuts now they are actually employed by the club. Eight are signed for the Under-18's squad, and they are full backs Artem Veretennikov and Anvar Fomin, centre back Islam Zarochentsev, midfielders Alexey Tarasov, German Burlyaev, Igor Podymov and Narek Romashkin, plus striker Semyon Kulakov. They are all aged 16 or 17. It takes the strain off the First Team players massively, and it's quite possible we'll see some of them in the First Team at some point during the season.

[EvilDave]

You seem to have attracted a decent level of player for a team so far down the system, good win over Titan. I've no idea how the database you're using is put together, but there's absolutely no way a team from Magnitogorsk would be in the same division as one from Anapa in the amateur ranks - they're in different regions even in the Second Division, a professional tier!

Also, your title should say футбола rather than футбольных, as it's a noun and not an adjective 

[neilhoskins77]

10 hours ago, EvilDave said:

You seem to have attracted a decent level of player for a team so far down the system, good win over Titan. I've no idea how the database you're using is put together, but there's absolutely no way a team from Magnitogorsk would be in the same division as one from Anapa in the amateur ranks - they're in different regions even in the Second Division, a professional tier!

Also, your title should say футбола rather than футбольных, as it's a noun and not an adjective 

I'm pleasantly surprised with the quality of the squad to this point Dave, though we are being made to look better by the other clubs recruitment being considerably slower than ours. As for the database, I have no idea. Unfortunately, it's very rare that you find an expansion file that hits 10/10. I've used ones from Wales where the regional divisions have not been set up correctly, so I'm not surprised they're wrong in a Russian one.

I'm not even slightly surprised the title has an inaccuracy, Google Translate is not known for being reliable. I even contemplated checking it with you, but didn't want to bother you with a trivial question. I hope the inaccuracies don't prevent you from enjoying the story.

[neilhoskins77]

August 2015 (cont).

As the squad is starting to look settled, and maybe even up to the job, David Arabachyan is offered a contract by FC Klin, an amateur side playing their football in tier seven, the top level of the PRSLFK. I was surprised as anyone when he rejected their offer, stating that he was happy with us, and believed that the club were on the verge of becoming successful, so he would remain in Magnitogorsk. Our Reserves played twice in the week, suffering a defeat, followed by a draw, with Marat Shashkov in particular impressing.

Attention would soon turn to our next League match, a trip to the Perm Krai region of the country to face Engeria Chaykovsky. They have a win, two draws and a defeat from their four League matches to date, and they rely heavily on their four veteran players who provide the cornerstone of their squad, with Captain and striker Evgeny Masalev the man they look to when it comes to putting the ball in the net.

Saturday 8th August 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Tsentralny, Chaykovsky.
Energia Chaykovsky v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Rafael Deriglazov, Marat Shashkov, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Vladimir Matveev, Kirill Uryupin, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

After winning last time out, we keep the same starting lineup once more, though there is one change on the bench, with Daniil Oladapo dropping out of the squad, and replaced by a defensive option, as Marat Shashkov comes into the matchday squad and is hoping for his official senior and club debut today. Both the lineup and subs have been pretty settled of late, and it will be interesting to see if any of the new crop of players can challenge for spots.

Maybe the players who were in the team felt the need to put in a performance. And if that was the case, they didn't waste any time in this match. Alexey Tankov sent in a free kick that Artem Zherebin headed clear, and found Vladislav Evseev. The wide player sent a ball through the middle of the park, relying on Alexey Suzov's pace. He judged it well, the striker out sprinting all three defenders, and then angling his run into the penalty box, rounding the keeper, and slotting the ball home to hand us a 13th minute lead. It's his fifth goal of the campaign. It's been a bit of a theme of our season that we score our goals in bunches, and we continue that here, as five minutes later, we break Energia open again. Konstantin Kamenskiy plays a long ball forward into the right channel, which Evseev chases down. When he reaches it, two defenders are in attendance, so he plays a short pass to Pavel Kryukov, and his pinpoint cross picks out Alexandr Patokin, who bullets a header past Stepan Beveev and makes it two nil.

Another set piece from Alexey Tankov nearly has Energia back in the game 90 seconds later, as his corner to the near post finds Anzor Demchenko, but the centre half's first time shot at goal was straight at Dmitry Galyuk, but still needed some fighting off from our keeper. In the 28th minute, their next corner was more successful, Tankov again delivering to the near post, and forward Sergey Sakoyan glanced his header into the net. Within five minutes we had managed to put that advantage back to two goals. Dmitry Galyuk sends the ball up the park and out towards the left, picking out Timur Gogolidze. The midfielder picked out another great run from Suzov, and played the ball over the top and into the left channel of the box. The striker had defenders around him, but wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to get a shot in on goal. He created a yard of space, and ignored the fact it was on his weaker left foot, slotting the shot into the gap between post and keeper, to we have a 3-1 lead to take into the break. It was nearly 4-1, Artem Zherebin connected with a volley from a Vladimir Iljin corner, Andrey Shilov kicked it off the goal line.

Energia's half time changes certainly were surprising, as they took off Tankov and Sakoyan, as well as defender Shakhban Drboev. My players were left as they were, and told to keep up their good work. Patokin misunderstood, and picked up an early second half booking. That I could deal with, but defensively I was watching our defence start to get a bit sloppy, and I wasn't happy with that. Galyuk was forced into a 57th minute save after a ball through the centre of our defence deflected off Zherebin and into the path of Evgeny Masalev, but Galyuk pushed the shot away. With a warning ringing in our ears, Kamenskiy came off and a more defensive David Arabachyan came on in his place. That didn't stop what was looking inevitable though, Artur Yamgurzin timed his tackle on Azamat Khudzhamov well in the 62nd minute, but the ball broke loose to Andrey Shilov. He sent the pass infield to Andrey Kultyshev, and he found a killer pass to the feet of Masalev, the veteran striker curling his shot past Galyuk's dive and reducing the home sides arrears.

Now we were looking to see out the match, and two more defensive substitutions were made, firstly the already booked Patokin was replaced by Kirill Uryupin on the left, and a short time later, Zherebin came off and replaced by Marat Shashkov, who came on for his Senior football debut. His partner at centre back for the latter stages of the match, Dmitry Yagodinskiy, was booked with less than five minutes to go. There was considerably less time than that left when Vladimir Iljin's pass in midfield that was intended for David Arabachyan was instead intercepted by Vladislav Aseev. He played a one-two with Masalev, and then put a diagonal through ball inside that split our centre backs, and sub Rashid Sasin ran onto it, and shot between the legs of Galyuk to find the net literally as the clock struck ninety minutes. A few weeks ago Spartak Anapa had caught us late to hand us a defeat. Today, this late goal made the match feel just like a defeat after throwing away two goals leads on two seperate occasions.

Energia Chaykovsky (1) 3 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (3) 3
Scorers :- Alexey Suzov (14,32), Alexandr Patokin (18)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin (Marat Shashkov 77), Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy (David Arabachyan 60), Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin (Kirill Uryupin 68); Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 243. Man of the Match :- Alexey Suzov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

The media and the clubs supporters put a brave face on the two points we left behind in Chaykovsky, stating that while they were disappointed we had managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory, they were delighted with Alexey Suzov's performance in front of goal, and just as thrilled to see the first steps of a home grown player in the First Team in the form of Marat Shashkov. In the after match press conference, I stated confidently that I was sure more would follow him in the not too distant future. The next chance for that to happen would come in midweek, where we would travel in the First Leg match of our Kubol Rossii Second Round tie with tier eight club, FC Tikhoretsk.

When the Reserves next played on Tuesday evening away to their counterparts from Alnas Almetjevsk, it was midfielder Victor Karpukhin who put his hand up with a good performance, particularly his equalising goal early in the second half, where he beat a defender, and then lobbed the keeper from 20 yards out. I didn't get to see that match in person, I was travelling with the First Team squad to the Krasnodar region of the country to face FC Tikhoretsk.

Wednesday 12th August 2015 - Kubol Rossi Round Two, First Leg.
Tikhoretsk Stadium, Tikhoretsk.
FC Tikhoretsk v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Rafael Deriglazov, Marat Shashkov, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Vladimir Matveev, Kirill Uryupin, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

Another unchanged matchday squad for the trip to the South West corner of the country as we look to take the scalp of a higher ranked side in the Cup. Our players tore into tackles right from the off, and it didn't take long for the home side to fight fire with fire. We came out on the wrong side of that particular dual, as midway through the half Konstantin Kamenskiy was forced to come off with a leg injury, and David Arabachyan replaced him. Still, it didn't seem to impact us too much, as a few minutes later, we were ahead. Artur Yamgurzin made a tackle on the left that knocked the ball loose, and then played it straight down the touchline to Alexander Patokin, who had been given the freedom of the left wing. He had plenty of time to measure his cross, and picked out Vladimir Iljin at the far post, who volleyed home his third goal of the season from no more than five yards out.

It wasn't just down the left wing we were causing Tikhoretsk problems, as Timur Gogolidze spread the ball right from midfield, and Pavel Kryukov overlapped at pace and sent over a cross that Alexey Suzov just failed to reach. The ball was recovered well by Patokin and worked back through the midfield, where Suzov held it on the edge of the box, and then rolled it into the path of Iljin, who curled an effort just over the cross bar. We were starting to get the upper hand in the midfield battle, though we were nearly caught out as half time approached, Rafael Sergulev took the ball off Gogolidze's toe and lifted it over our high defensive line for Rashid Vlasov to run onto, but Dmitry Galyuk pushed the shot around the post.

It's becoming a trend for clubs to substitute their keepers at the break apparently, as it happens again for the third time in the space of a few weeks against us. In fact, the home side used all their changes at the break, and they might have wished they hadn't. More on that in a moment. They thought they had an equaliser in the 59th minute, as skipper Danil Bamatgeriev turned inside Patokin and sent in a cross that was misjudged by all of our defenders and Galyuk, allowing Vadim Leikin to volley home, but from an offside position. He was one of four that had failed to hold their runs.

That prompted a change for us, as Gogolidze came off, Iljin moved back into the midfield pairing, Patokin moved to the right wing, Vladislav Evseev went into the shadow striker role, and Vladimir Matveev came on to play left wing. Alexey Suzov was starting to see the game pass him by further up the park, and in the 72nd minute he was replaced by Alexandr Stepanov. Five minutes later came the key moment of the second half. Kryukov took a throw in to the edge of the box, finding Arabachyan, who believed he was fouled by Timur Strepetov. The ref didn't agree, and waved play on, and Evseev lost the ball. Tikhoretsk attempted a counter attack with Kazbek Oschepkov sending the ball upfield. Vlasov was held up, and was forced to play the ball into midfield, where Sergulev came up against Evseev who was very keen to make amends for giving the ball away. Too keen. He took his opponent down with a vicious two footed lunging tackle, and there was no doubt what colour the card was going to be, the youngster took the long walk across the park and down the tunnel, with the home fans jeering him every step of the way.

Fortunately, for us at least, with our opponents already playing all their cards, they were not in a position to do anything with their man advantage, and we held them off fairly comfortably for the remainder of the match. It's a really good result, and we now have an excellent chance of progressing into the Third Round, which would surpass even the highest hopes of our Board members.

FC Tikhoretsk (0) 0 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) 1
Scorers :- Vladimir Iljin (26)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy (inj - David Arabachyan 23), Timur Gogolidze (Vladimir Matveev 59); Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov (Alexandr Stepanov 72).
Attendance :- 322. Man of the Match :- Rafael Sergulev (FC Tikhoretsk).

Fortunately, Konstantin Kamenskiy's injury wasn't anything more than a dead leg, which will keep him out for around a week. That leaves us at least two players down for the next match on the weekend, as Vladislav Evseev is suspended for a match following his straight red card. My assistant manager believes the sending off was entirely justified, and appealing would be pointless. After taking in his opinion, Evseev is sent for, and given an official warning regarding his future discipline, which is the harshest punishment I can dish out as he isn't being paid. In fairness to the lad, he accepts the warning, and apologises for his rash actions. I'm not too tough on him, he's still a youngster, and has been impressive so far this season.

[neilhoskins77]

August 2015 (cont).

The physio calls me on Thursday morning, and tells me that Konstantin Kamenskiy's dead leg is on the more lengthy scale of his projected time on the sidelines, and as well as missing Saturday's League match, he will also be out for the second leg of the Kubol Rossii tie next midweek as well. It's a blow, our squad is compact, and we don't want to be without players. But it does potentially open the door for another youngster to be intergrated into the First Team setup, even if they don't get to play. It does hammer home the need to continue searching for players to improve our squad depth and provide competition for places however.

Our record breaking win in the previous round didn't remain a record for very long, as the top teams had a field day against lower ranked opposition, with Tom Tomsk anhilating both the record and tier eight opponents FC Vichuga, as they fired eleven goals past them in the First Leg. Meanwhile, we need to prepare for another away League match, as we'll travel to Uren this weekend, where we'll face Energetik Uren. We'll have another member of our travelling party too, as one of our earliest signings finally arrives at the club. Nikita Semenov was just 15 years old when he left Russia to go and try and make a name for himself in Finland, the nation of his Mother. He joined SIFFK, and he while didn't play for their First Team, he did make enough of an impression to earn a deal with top tier Veikkausliiga club, IFK Mariehamn. They sent him straight to their Third Division affiliate club, FC Aland, where he would compete with four other keepers, all with a lot more experience than him. Failing to get football with them, and becoming disillusioned with being overlooked, he joins us on his 18th birthday, and all things considered, he may well be the most exiting prospect at the club. He will however, have to shift Dmitry Galyuk to earn a Senior career debut.

Saturday 15th August 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Energetic, Uren.
Energetik Uren v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; David Arabachyan, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Nikita Semenov, Marat Shashkov, Evgeny Korota, Alan Kotsyubinskiy, Vladimir Matveev, Daniil Oladapo, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

Nikita Semenov wouldn't be the only new face in the squad for this match, as young midfielder Alan Kotsyubinskiy is called up from the Reserve squad for Senior duty for the first time, his work rate earning him the edge of some more skilled players around him. With Konstantin Kamenskiy injured, there is a start in the middle for David Arabachyan. There is a space to fill on the right wing with Vladislav Evseev serving his suspension, Kirill Uryupin gets a start on the left wing, with Alexandr Patokin moving across to the right wing to accomodate him.

They might be called Energetik, but they didn't look particularly up for it on this afternoon. We had their defence in pieces with less than three minutes on the clock. Artur Yamgurzin sent Kirill Uryupin into space down the left. Uryupin didn't force a play that wasn't there, and with the defender trying to push him infield, he went that way, and played it short to Timur Gogolidze. The defence didn't spot the danger, and the ball went to Vladimir Iljin, and was quickly sent low into the box and into the run of Alexey Suzov, who outsprinted his marker and lifted the ball over the advancing keeper, finding the net and handing us a very early lead.

With a sizeable crowd silenced, we set about breaking the spirit of our hosts, and they looked rattled. A straightforward free kick in centre midfield was badly played, and Alexandr Patokin took possession and ran directly at the Energetik defence. After beating a player, he drew another and played it to Iljin, who looked to have missed a chance to play in Suzov by going the wrong way, but recovered the situation by playing a reverse pass in for David Arabachyan, who brought a great low save out of Erik Staver. There wouldn't be any real response from the home side, and we easily controlled the half, with the only blot on the copybook being Artem Zherebin picking up a yellow card.

When Energetik made all three changes at the break, they weren't wasting one on their keeper, as they looked to change the course of the match. Yamgurzin picked up a yellow for dissent, and as the rain started to fall, our opponents looked to try and take the match to us for the first time. Our defence was breached in the 59th minute, two subs combining as Ruslan Rozhkov linked up with Eduard Korchemkin, who then played a neat one-two with Vasily Nikonov. The substitute striker was in on goal, but he didn't even manage to work Dmitry Galyuk, sliding his shot wide of the post, holding his head in his hands. And he would be made to pay for that miss too just moments later. Pavel Kruykov moved the ball infield to Iljin, who slid the ball into the right channel of the box for Patokin. The winger resisted the urge to shoot himself, instead holding off his defender, and then squaring the ball, where Suzov was unmarked, and swept the ball home for his second of the day, and his 8th for the season.

I had no doubt that the match was now won, and made my three changes in the 66th minute, taking off Zherebin, Gogolidze and Iljin, and bringing on Marat Shashkov, Alan Kotsyubinskiy for his Senior debut, and Daniil Oladapo would play at shadow striker. Shashkov picked up a booking, David Arabachyan grazed the cross bar with an effort form range, but the job was done. Away from home, we had bossed the game, and not only kept a clean sheet, but prevented our opponents from even getting a shot on target. It felt like a coming of age performance as far as the League was concerned.

Energetik Uren (0) 0 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) 2
Scorers :- Alexey Suzov (3,62)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin (Marat Shashkov 66), Artur Yamgurzin; David Arabachyan, Timur Gogolidze (Alan Kotsyubinskiy 66); Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin (Daniil Oladapo 66), Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 1,495. Man of the Match :- Alexey Suzov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

In the changing rooms after the match, an emotional Alan Kotsyubinskiy was presented with his game shirt from his first ever Senior performance by Club Captain and right back, Pavel Kryukov, a new tradition that we had implemented in the club to celebrate the clubs efforts to improve its Youth Development. If the moment was supposed to be special for the 20 year old, then the script had not been read by mischievous keeper Dmitry Galyuk and partner in crime, Alexandr Stepanov, as the pair then dumped a bucket of cold water over the player. Alexey Suzov's man of the match award left the stadium in considerably better condition than the youngsters blue jersey, and it was becoming very clear that if we were to live with the sides at the top end of the table, the 23 year olds form in front of goal would be crucial. The team in the box seat at the moment are FC Volgodonsk, who have won each of their games since dropping points against us on the opening day of the season. Our win in Uren leaves us in sixth place, five points behind the leaders with half a dozen games played.

[neilhoskins77]

Apologies for the lack of updates here for the last two weeks. I've been away on holiday to visit the family. Congratulations to everyone who won awards or was nominated for an award last night. The work in this little community we have is still of a very high standard.

August 2015 (cont).

Confidence is high at the club after our latest League win, and we were hoping to take that belief in ourselves into our home leg of the Kubok Rossii tie with FC Tikhoretsk, where we were in the box seat, and hoping for a place in Thursdays draw for Round Three. Another large crowd was expected at Central for the match, which would help the clubs finances improve even more than they have so far this season. Another home leg of a tie in the next round would see us looking in a very good position at the bank for a club of this size and stature. In the pre match press conference I'm asked about Chairman of the club Andrey Ovsyannikov, and if we were in agreement with the best way for the club to progress. I replied that we were never going to agree on everything, but as long as we both shared the same basic principals, there would always be a healthy framework in place for us to continue to push the club towards our mutual goals. There were a handful of Kubok Rossii matches played on the Tuesday, where Dinamo Moscow played the second leg of their tie with Spartak-MIZ Vorsma from our level. Having only won 2-0 in the first leg, Dinamo clearly felt the need to show the minnows who were top dogs in the second leg, winning 10-0 to ease into Round Three.

Wednesday 19th August 2015 - Kubok Rossii, Second Round Second Leg.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) v FC Tikhoretsk (0).
(4-2-3-1) :- Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; David Arabachyan, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Nikita Semenov, Marat Shashkov, Evgeny Korota, Kirill Uryupin, Konstantin Kamenskiy, Vladimir Matveev, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

A big crowd gathered expectantly at Central in the late afternoon, and they had come hoping to see their side make it through to Round Three of Kubok Rossii. With Vladislav Evseev fit to return to the side, Alexandr Patokin moves back to the left wing, and Kirill Uryupin returns to the bench. He is joined there by Konstantin Kamenskiy, who has defied the odds and managed to recover enough to be available, but not enough to take back his starting place. That means the end of Alan Kotsyubinskiy's adventure with the First Team, for now at least. Daniil Odalapo is also left out of the matchday squad today.

The pitch was going to be a worry through the season, mid-August only and even a bit of drizzle makes it look in poor state, and we're a team that likes to pass the football around. It took us a while to settle, and when we did, we were a goal down and our First Leg advantage was gone. We didn't help ourselves, Vladislav Evseev tried a pass to Vladimir Iljin, but made the veteran stretch for the pass, and Andrey Glushko took the ball off his toe. He played it to Timur Strepetov and then set off down the left wing to take the return pass in plenty of space. He played the ball inside to Roman Malykh, who then squared it to the left foot of Rafael Sergulev, who produced a curling shot that beat the dive of Dmitry Galyuk and found the corner of the net in the 13th minute.

Our intensity levels rose immediately, and I was pleased to see my players try and make up for their slow start right away. None more so than Evseev, who really got himself involved in the game in the next five minutes, and played a large part in our equaliser. He took control from a short throw by Pavel Kryukov, and then gave the ball right back to the defender, who made ground along the right touchline. With his path blocked, he gave it back to Evseev who had made his way inside, and he then played it across the face of the goal. He picked out Alexandr Patokin, who's first effort was blocked, but the ball stuck around, and at the second attempt he sidefooted it low into the net and levelled the match on the night to restore our advantage in the tie. The confidence was now flowing through the team, and ninety seconds later, we had turned the match on it's head. Evseev was involved once more, ghosting by a defender after stepping infield off the right wing. The ball went through David Arabachyan and Iljin, before finding it's way to Alexey Suzov on the edge of the box. He had to work to get the ball out of his feet, which meant any shooting opportunity had gone by, but he slipped the ball into the path of Timur Gogolidze, who had moved into a far more advanced spot than he usually found himself in, and he slid the ball under the ball of Artur Masalov, and put us firmly in control.

That lead stood through to half time, where again opposition substitutions showed what I now believed to be an inherent lack of tactical knowledge at this level of football in Russia. Chasing the game to progress through to the next round, all three changes were made at the break, and all were defensive, including the goalkeeper being changed. As the teams lined up for the start of the second half, and I noted the changes in personnel from our visitors, I actually checked with my Assistant that we hadn't overlooked a rule and were supposed to be changing our keeper at the break as well. He laughed and shook his head. We started the second half looking firmly in control, and Patokin was realeased into space on the left, maybe showing a little over confidence as he tried to use a little trick to gain a way into the penalty box, the defender not taking the bait.

Patokin was enjoying heaps of space down that left, and when Suzov headed a clearance up the park into his path, he set off again down that flank. His cross was a little too deep, but was only cleared as far as Kryukov, who sent another dangerous looking cross into the centre, sub keeper Radik Nikishin having to be brave to take it with Suzov bearing down on him. With almost zero signs of a fightback from Tikoretsk, and half an eye on our next League match, I made all three of my changes in the 65th minute, with Gogolidze, Patokin and Suzov all coming off and replaced like for like by Konstantin Kamenskiy, Kirill Uryupin and Vladislav Aleksin. All the pace and competitive edge had been taken out of the game now, and the scoring looked done, until deep into injury time. Dmitry Yagodinskiy sent a long ball down the right touchline, and Evseev did well to pull it down, and keep the ball in play. He did even better with his cross, picking out Uryupin, who guided his header well, floating it over Nikishin and inside the far post to add a little gloss onto a nice performance. I'm not too sure that many people would consider it a giant killing feat, but we had knocked out a club two tiers above us, and progressed to the Third Round.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (2) 3 FC Tikhoretsk (1) 1 - (Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk win 4-1 on aggregate)
Scorers :- Alexandr Patokin (17), Timur Gogolidze (18), Kirill Uryupin (90+2)
Dmitry Galyuk; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; David Arabachyan, Timur Gogolidze (Konstantin Kamenskiy 65); Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin (Kirill Uryupin 65); Alexey Suzov (Vladislav Aleksin 65).
Attendance :- 1,970. Man of the Match :- Timur Gogolidze (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

If that was to be classed as a giant killing, then it was a fairly one sided one. We enjoyed nearly 60% of the ball in that Second Leg, and created three times more chances than our visitors, with more than four times the amount of efforts finding the target. In fact, the biggest surprise was that Vladislav Evseev was overlooked for the man of the match award, though this may partly be due to our opening goal being classed as unassisted, so he didn't get any credit for it. In the press conference after the match, I made sure the winger got a mention, as well as stating that I was pleased to see Gogolidze get off the mark in terms of goalscoring.

On Thursday morning the draw was made for Round Three of Kubok Rossii, and we would need to step up our game another level again. We are drawn against a club from the fifth tier, in the form of FAYuR. They appear to be the remenants of a club that used to play in Beslan, but was then dissolved. The current club are semi professional, but have not had a good start to their campaign in 5.Liga Russkiy, winning just two of their opening nine matches, with both wins coming away from home. They rely heavily on 26 year old striker Georgy Kulov, who they have on loan from second tier club, Alania Vladikavkaz. We were drawn first, and so would host the First Leg on the 9th September, but we would have three League matches to negotiate before reaching that match.

[neilhoskins77]

August 2015 (cont).

As well as the Cup draw, Thursday also brought an Under-18's fixture. In a risky attempt to boost the confidence of 18 year old striker Daniil Oladapo, I had removed him from the First Team squad, and made him available for age group side duty in an attempt to get him firing again. I couldn't take all the credit for the move if it were to pay off, as it was something that had been discussed with my Head of Youth Development. The backroom staff believe that the young striker can be a real asset to us, but is feeling undervalued right now. He travels with the age group side to face Irtysh Tobolsk, and scores the opener in the match, and the equaliser when the home side turn the match around. His efforts were in vain as far as the result went, as Irtysh eventually won 3-2, but he certainly did a good job of putting the ball in the net. He'll stay in their squad for a few more matches at least.

That meant he wouldn't be travelling with the First Team squad for our next League match, Saturdy afternoon's trip to Slavyansk- na-Kubani, where we would face 8th place Slavyansk-SGPI. After winning away from home in the League for the first time in our last trip to Energetik Uren, we were hoping to push on in the League, and were made favourites for the match, where Metallurg Magnitogorsk would have it's latest debutant.

Saturday 22nd August 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Municipal, Slavyansk-na-Kubani.
Slavyansk-SGPI Slavyansk-na-Kubani v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladimir Iljin, Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Dmitry Galyuk, Marat Shashkov, Evgeny Korota, Kirill Uryupin, David Arabachyan, Vladimir Matveev, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

Two changes are made to the starting eleven from Wednesday's match, with Konstantin Kamenskiy reclaiming his place in the lineup, replacing David Arabachyan in the midfield pairing, who takes his place on the bench instead. The other change see eighteen year old keeper Nikita Semenov make his debut for the club, and his Senior debut overall too. He has impressed recently when made available for the Reserves or Under-18's, and now has the opportunity to show that he can be a viable challenger to Dmitry Galyuk for the starting position.

We were the team that started the better, with our midfielders particularly keen to try and find Vladislav Evseev on the right wing. He produced three crosses inside the opening ten minutes, with the last of them finding Alexey Suzov, the striker dropping his shoulder to earn a yard of space, and then driving a low shot towards the bottom corner that Alexey Solovjov turned away. Suzov was involved when we created our next chance in the 17th minute, aided by a mix up between the hosts two centre backs. Ahmad Sidenko nudged the ball across towards Ismail Gadjibekov, but his defensive partner had gone walk about and Suzov raced onto the ball, but his first touch was heavy, and he pushed himself too wide, the chance disappearing.

Slavyansk nearly caught us on the counter attack, Ramil Bartasevich hitting a shot on the turn that grazed the top layer of paint off the crossbar on it's way over. We then had a counter attack of our own, a Slavyansk corner was headed clear and Evseev went after it, winning the ball in a 50/50 challenge and then sending a cross field pass that picked out Suzov, though going down and staying on the grass after it. Suzov cut inside from the right, and sent the ball back to the left for Alexandr Patokin, who crossed to Konstantin Kamenskiy. We could have done with it falling to someone else, as he hit his shot wildly off target. Meanwhile, Evseev wasn't able to continue after taking his knock in that challenge, and he came off, Kirill Uryupin coming on to play left wing, with Patokin moving across to the right.

Our main issue was dealing with long balls that the Slavyansk rearguard were sending up the park, and Artem Zherebin was beaten in the air by Leonid Medvedev. His header down found Maksim Managadze, who returned it right to Medvedev, who had Zherebin chasing him back. Not wanting to risk the defender taking it back off him, he squared it to Bartasevich, who was in acres of space. He drilled his low shot on target, but debutant keeper Nikita Semenov threw himself across goal and pushed the shot away. It was a highlight reel save, and the defenders were quick to congratulate the young stopper. The game was starting to ebb and flow, with chances coming at both ends, and Kirill Uryupin crossed from the byline to Vladimir Iljin, who sidefooted a shot straight at Solovjov. Moments later and the deadlock was finally broken. Iljin sent in a cross that bounced through their penalty box, and Dmitry Yagodinskiy managed to bundle it over the line from close range. With the lead in our pockets, all was looking well, until Medvedev tried to jink into the box in first half injury time, and Zherebin brought the striker down. It wasn't a difficult decision for the ref to make, and Bartasevich sent Semenov the wrong way from the spot to level the match.

The players were told that they needed to take their chances in the second half, but other than that, I was fairly happy with what I'd seen. Slavyansk made a pair of changes at the break, and I was a bit surprised to see Managadze go off. I was less surprised to see Yagodinskiy intent on making sure Bartasevich had less room than he'd been afforded in the first half, and centre back wasted no time in taking the ball off the striker and sending it forward to Suzov. After holding the ball up, he sent it wide right to Patokin, and he had no end of targets to aim for the in the penalty box as our players streamed forward. He picked out sub Kirill Uryupin at the far post, and he headed on target, Solovjov pushed it out, but only straight back to Uryupin, who blasted high into the net from close range to score for the second game running after coming off the bench, and reinstate our lead.

The game entered a scrappy phase, and the ref decided to try and calm that down by issuing yellow cards, giving out three in a seven minute spell, with Patokin the only one in our colours to be cautioned. Timur Gogolidze and Vladimir Iljin both made way midway through the half, David Arabachyan and Alexandr Stepanov both coming on from the bench. At this point we still looked the better side, but Slavyansk were dangerous on the counter, and nearly levelled again when Islam Savchenkov played a through ball between our defenders and Bartasevich got goal side, Semenov charging off his line and getting enough on the shot to push it wide. When we tried to counter after a poor corner for Slavyansk, the move broke down when Uryupin didn't get enough on a pass that would have put Patokin clear through on goal.

And we would pay for the wasted chances. Second half sub Nozim Shumakov used Medvedev as his decoy runner, and then lofted it over our defence for Bartasevich. Conscious of Semenov's size and that he had stopped his last one on one effort, the striker caught our keeper out by shooting early, a rising shot that beat the teenager all ends up and found a home just under the cross bar. That 79th minute strike saw both teams adopt a mentality of having what they held, and neither looked too keen to jepordise their point by pushing for all three. Yet with moments left, the match was nearly decided when David Arabachyan played the ball across goal and Patokin arrived, Solovjov virtually doing the splits to kick the ball against the base of his own upright and then push the loose ball away from the winger's outstretched boot and out for a corner. On this day, we weren't quite good enough for the in against a very stubborn home side.

Slavyansk-SGPI Slavyansk-na-Kubani (1) 2 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) 2
Scorers :- Dmitry Yagodinskiy (40), Kirill Uryupin (50)
Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze (David Arabachyan 65); Vladislav Evseev (inj - Kirill Uryupin 30), Vladimir Iljin (Alexandr Stepanov 65), Alexandr Patokin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 182. Man of the Match :- Ramil Bartasevich (Slavyansk-SGPI).

A dead leg sustained in that match means that Vladislav Evseev will miss around a week, and that makes him unavailable for our next match in 4 days time. With the negative out of the way, it was great to see the fans immediately take to young keeper Nikita Semenov. The local press praised the teenagers display in his first ever Senior match, and now there was dispute over who the clubs number one keeper would be. A bit of healthy competition never harmed anyone, and Dmitry Galyuk's position of comfort has been kicked from under him. He'll now have a fight on his hands for First Team starts. Our defenders will be keeping a close out for their own positions as well, as I start to look at ways to strengthen the back four. My Scouts alert me to the potential availability of a centre back who has played International football for Kyrgyzstan, and is currently turning out for one of the top clubs in his home nation, but has so far refused to sign a new deal they have offered him.

Meanwhile, straight after our match, the Under-18's play at Central, and Daniil Oladapo finds the net again to make it three in two matches for the age group side. Unfortunately, they were already 3-0 down at that point against the visitors from SibGUFK Omsk, and went on to lose the match 4-1. Their form can't spoil the overall mood in the club though, and the six games unbeaten since the start of the month for the First Team is a new club record. The pitch at Central took another battering on Sunday afternoon when the Reserves played against the second string of Elektron Vyatskie Polyany. It would prove to be a winless weekend for the club through our trio of sides, as the Reserves were beaten 3-1, the only higlight being an assist for Alan Kotsyubinskiy late on, though that proved to be a consolation goal only.

Sunday would finish with what I thought was a great bit of news to conclude the weekend on. It would turn out to be anything but, and the club would find itself in a difficult situation of our own making.....

[neilhoskins77]

August 2015 (cont).

Our search for a centre back led us to 25 year old Vladimir Lomakin. The six footer had started his career with FC Lobnya, who were a Third Division club at the time, but have freefalled through the Leagues since then, and started this campaign in Division 6. And Lomakin was still there too, and played the first two matches of the season with his long time employers, before moving to Taganrogskaya Ptitsefabrika Novoprimorskiy of the same level. He only played four matches there before having a row with the management team at his new club and wanted out, jumping at the opportunity to sign for us, even though he had now dropped seven tiers in as many years as a player. That wasn't the problem though. They started when we tried to register our new signing. Expecting no problems at all, I started considering how long our new signing would take to get used to the club, and how quickly he could be considered for First Team action. The answer to that would turn out to be next summer. It turns out that a player cannot play for more than two clubs during the same season. After playing twice for Lobnya, and then four times for TPF, now Lomakin is ineligible to play for us until the 2016/17 campaign, and a player who would be very useful to our squad will need to be talked into playing nothing more than Reserve football for ten months. It goes without saying that this whole episode makes us look more amateur than our status suggests. And it leaves us still on the hunt for a centre back.

It's going to be a busy week, as we have our final match of August on Tuesday night, and then the Transfer Deadline is approaching, meaning we don't have long left to work on improving the squad. We won't be landing a Kyrgyzstan International though. In truth, we were attempting to punch well above our weight landing him, and while he did open discussions with us, it was quickly clear that we wouldn't be able to bring him to Magnitogorsk. He ended up signing for Azerbaijan top tier club FK Susa-09, going to a League that has new money and is growing in strength by the year. We can't compete with that, and my Chairman had a word in my ear, telling me that while ambition is great, he doesn't want to see the clubs fans led down the garden path and made to believe that we're in the market to sign a calibre of player that just isn't realistic.

I suppose he has a valid point, but I want this club to be as successful as possible, and as quickly as possible. I won't make any apologies for that. We've had a very positive start to the season, and the Cup form in particular gives hope that if we can move up one level, we can move up several. The key for me is competition for places, as long as we have that, we can keep the players focused over a long season. Hopefully the players would be suitably focused on our next League match, one we were heavy favourites to win.

Tuesday 25th August 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v Sodovik Sterlitamak.
(4-2-3-1) :- Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Dmitry Galyuk, Marat Shashkov, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Vladimir Matveev, Daniil Oladapo, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

Our last game of the month, and Nikita Semenov's performance despite conceding two goals in Slavyansk means he stays in the starting goalkeepers jersey, and makes his home debut against 15th placed Sodovik. The dead leg suffered by Vladislav Evseev opens up a place further up the park, and the scoring exploits from the bench in the last few games by Kirill Uryupin make that a fairly easy choice. He'll play on the left wing, with Alexandr Patokin making the move from left to right to take the spot vacated by Evseev.

Sodovik were not expected to give us a tough test in front of the best League attendance we'd had so far at home, and the first over 1,000. Our opponents lived up to expectations, careless with the ball, unorganised in defence. We nearly had the lead with less than four minutes on the clock, Vladimir Iljin whipping in a corner and Artem Zherebin was left unmarked near the penalty spot. His powerful header was pushed away by Ruslan Bitarov, only into the path of Kirill Uryupin, but his close range effort was kicked off the goal line. The goal was inevitable though, and arrived ten minutes later. Alexey Suzov made a nuisance of himself and won the ball in the middle of their half, before spreading it right to Alexandr Patokin. The winger took off, and went outside his marker before sending in a deep cross. Timur Goglidze was strongest in the air, and was selfless too, heading it down to the waiting Iljin, who swept a left footed half volley home to put us ahead.

Already it was looking more a question of how many goals we might get this afternoon, not if we were going to get the win. Every time we ventured forward, we looked capable of notching against these lads. The second goal came in the 28th minute, and was beautifully crafted. The ball went through the feet of almost the entire team, and the players showed they were really thinking about how to pull the defence out of position to make themselves some room. Iljin did what Suzov would be expected to, and dropped into the gap and held the ball up. With options either side, he picked out Uryupin on the left of the box. The defence all gravitated towards Suzov to make sure he was marked tightly, so Uryupin sent a diagonal pass across the box that cut them all out, and found Patokin, who sidefooted past the keeper to beat him at his near post, and move back ahead of Iljin with his 5th goal of the season. Zherebin with a header from a corner, Gogolidze with a fierce shot from the edge of the box and Suzov with an acrobatic volley all missed chances to further increase the lead before the break.

There wasn't much that needed to be said at the break, we were doing everything we needed to do, looked good doing it, and were on course for three more points to add the tally. Like many other clubs before them, Sodovik burned all three changes at the break, though at least their moves had some purpose, as they tried to readdress the balance in the middle of the park to find a way back into the game. That plan was ripped apart ten minutes after the restart with our third goal. Iljin's corner was only partly cleared to Patokin on the edge of the box, and he centred it to Gogolidze, who's shot pinballed off two players, and dropped to Uryupin. The left sided utility player continued his fine form by slamming the loose ball low through the crowd into the net, and registered his third goal in as many matches.

It could have been four moments later, when Zherebin launched the ball upfield and the defender didn't register the danger from a close in attendance Alexey Suzov. The striker shoved himself in front of his oppenent to reach the ball, and then foiled a desperate attempt to drag him to the floor. He shot at goal from a narrow angle allowing Bitarov a routine save, and ignoring the cries for the ball from an unmarked and now annoyed Iljin, who would have had the easiest of finishes imaginable. With the game won, and the foot noticeably coming off the gas, I made my changes in the 65th minute, concentrating more on who would come on, more so than who would come off. Zherebin, Iljin and Suzov all came off, Marat Shashkov coming on in defence, Vladislav Aleksin in the shadow striker role, and Daniil Oladpao getting a chance to play up front. Aleksin and Oladapo in particular would be keen to take the chance to impress with Suzov having a monopoly over game time up front so far this season. They were unfortunate that the level of play reduced a few notches by the time they got onto the park, and the service provided to them was lacklustre compared to what it had been earlier in the match. And if they had reason to be disgruntled, then they would be joined by Nikita Semenov towards the end of the match. With only a few moments left on the clock, Konstantin Kamenskiy drifted in a corner that was easily headed clear, and Kamenskiy declined to chase back as Vitaly Shamov broke down the right touchline. When he floated a centred ball into an attacking position, our defence stood with their arms in the air appealing for offside. But 20 year old Marat Tsygantsov wasn't offside, and he strode clear through on goal and toe poked the ball past the keeper and inside the far post. The teenager was furious at the lack of effort his team mates had exuded to help him to his first Senior clean sheet, and if nothing else, I was happy to see him give a massive ticking off to his team mates. That said, the job was well and truly done by that point.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (2) 3 Sodovik Sterlitamak (0) 1
Scorers :- Vladimir Iljin (14), Alexandr Patokin (28), Kirill Uryupin (56)
Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin (Marat Shashkov 65), Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin (Vladislav Aleksin 65), Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov (Daniil Oladapo 65).
Attendance :- 1,026. Man of the Match :- Kirill Uryupin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

A goal, and assist, and a man of the match award. Vladislav Evseev will have been watching from the stands and thinking that he may well be sitting on the sidelines for a bit longer than his dead leg required after seeing the latest outing from Kirill Uryupin. And it could be a good move for Alexandr Patokin as well, who was already impressing on the left, but now he is on his more favoured right side, he could also thrive. That's now five games without defeat in the League, and allows us to move temporarily at least into second place, and just two points behind Volgodonsk, who don't play until tomorrow. We're also the highest scorers in the Division too now. It's the other end of the park that is the bigger problem, and with the next important date in the diary being the Transfer Deadline in less than a weeks time, it's an issue that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

[neilhoskins77]

August 2015 (cont).

With over a week until our next League game, I made a few of the players who were regulars on the substitutes bench for the First Team available for the Reserves next fixture, allowing them to sharpen up a little bit, and try and impress in their quest to earn more game time for the Senior side. When the Senior side next played in a week's time, we would be five points behind Volgodonsk, who had reinstated their cushion at the top of the League with a 2-1 home victory over Astratex. We are joined on 15 points by Salyut Belgorod, who look to be among our promotion contenters too.

I wasn't prepared to admit defeat with regard to adding another centre back to our squad, and on Thursday, we got the job done, taking another defender from the same club. We returned to sixth tier side TPF to secure the signing of 21 year old Vladislav Philippov. The 6'3 tall player was in his first season at that level after joining from top tier club FC Ufa in the summer after failing to crack their lineup. He will immediately challenge Yagodinskiy and Zherebin for their starting spots, and we even checked to make sure we'd be able to register him this time too. We do like to be thorough....eventually. Later on Thursday, our Reserves would play the second string side from ORTO Izhevsk. They were beaten 3-1, though Vladisav Aleksin did manage to find the net, the first time the Uzbek striker has managed to do so since arriving, and he was assisted by veteran winger Vladimir Matveev.

Our Under-18's were the next ones to be in action on Saturday evening, as they defeated Dinamo-Mashinostroitel-Kirov's youngsters 2-1 at Central. Young right back Artem Veretennikov impressed in front of the small crowd, setting up the winner late in injury time, a win that sends our young side top of their League. The Reserves are scheduled to play on Tuesday 1st September, which is the final day of the Transfer Window. I had made Dmitry Galyuk available to play in that match, but he wouldn't be playing in that, or any other match, for up to two months after twisting his ankle in a training session after turning sharply. That meant what was shaping up to be a fairly quiet deadline day would require us making one move at least.

While we had to do a bit of business, I tried to boost some other areas of the squad as well, but our efforts were knocked back over and over again. 33 year old Armenian midfielder Gor Mkrtumyan would have brought some size to the middle of the park as he stands 6'5, but he rejected our advances, as did 18 year old attacking midfielder Andrey Zorin. We got the same answer from 25 year old utility forward Pavel Aliseevich, who would have brought some much needed versatility to our squad. We did at least get the one piece of business that was absolutely necessary done. I wasn't prepared to spend the day messing around making offers for players who may or may not consider signing for us. So I went right in for the best Free Agent keeper available on the market. That was 30 year old Valery Golovchanov. He is very experienced with over 150 Senior appearances to his name, most of which have been in Divisions Two and Three. The 6'2 keeper spent last season in Division Three North West with Zvezda St Petersburg, where he played a dozen games. He's going to be a great guy to provide competition for Galyuk and Semenov, but could also be a mentor for the teenage keeper who's place he is going to be gunning for. Confident that no further signings would be made, I head to the Reserves match at Central against Sodovik Sterlitamak's Reserve side. Victor Karpukhin gave us a first half lead, and Alexey Khlynov won it for us just five minutes after our visitors had equalised. The most impressive player on show is midfielder Alan Kotsyubinskiy, who set up both of our goals and generally ran the show. It was becoming increasingly hard to ignore the 20 year old midfielders performances.

[neilhoskins77]

September 2016.

Another £2k+ profit through the month of August meant the clubs financial situation was continuing to improve month on month. Job security is up in the high 70% area, almost exclusively thanks to our League position and good Cup run so far. They are also pleased with our signings on the most part, with Kirill Uryupin, Alexey Suzov and Alexandr Patokin in particular mentioned. I'm glad they're happy with things so far, I just hope they keep that in mind when we eventually hit a bad spell, which is sure to happen over the course of a long season. Hopefully we can get this new month off to a good start with our home match against lowly APK Azov, who go into the match sitting in 18th place.

Wednesday 2nd September 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v APK Azov.
(4-2-3-1) :- Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Valery Golovchanov, Vladislav Philippov, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Vladimir Mateev, Vladislav Evseev, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

Our two new players both take their place on the bench for our first home League match of September, and the final match before the start of a busy few weeks in the schedule with the return to Cup action. Valery Golovchanov takes Dmitry Galyuk's spot, while Vladislav Philippov's inclusion in the squad means that Marat Shashkov will spend some time with the Reserve squad, which will do the young centre back no harm at all.

'I'm sick of this rain.' I commented to my Assistant as I turned the collar of my coat up against the downpour to stop it running down my neck. 'When the snows come, you'll be wishing it raining!' came the rather nonchalant reply from him as he took his seat in the dry, if not warm, dugout. Barely ten minutes into a match we were expected to win easily, and I had another thing to be sick of that, and that was our defending. Aslan Andreichenko produced a nice turn to evade a tackle in midfield, and then sent the ball forward and into the feet of Ilya Chibirov. He produced a killer pass, playing the ball at an awkward height that left Dmitry Yagodinskiy stranded, and Ilmir Karpenko rounded Nikita Semenov and slid the ball home to put us a goal down.

Normal service was resumed just two minutes later, Timur Gogolidze sent the ball to the right wing with a long diagonal pass, and Pavel Kryukov had made the dash forward to collect the ball. He then sent in a pinpoint cross, that was just too high for the defenders to deal with, and they had lost all track of Alexey Suzov, who arrived behind them to steer the bouncing ball past Nikolay Radjabov and level the match quickly. We almost overhauled their lead entirely within moments, Robert Volkotrub miscontrolled the ball on their left, and Alexandr Patokin took it right from him and moved into space down the wing. He crossed early, bypassing Suzov who was fighting for space with a defender, and picking out Kirill Uryupin instead, who was unmarked. The left footer's finishing had been top notch over recent matches, but not quite this time, as he curled his shot past the keeper, but didn't quite get enough on it, and the ball grazed the side netting on it's way to hitting the advertising hoardings behind the goal.

20 minutes of knocking hard on the door attempting to break down APK had produced a failed penalty appeal after a challenge on Patokin, and Uryupin beating two players to get into the box, only to then fire his low shot too close to keeper Radjabov who saved with his legs. It was left to Suzov to finally give us the advantage in the 32nd minute. Good work on the left was started by Artur Yamgurzin, and he played it down the touchline to Uryupin. He used the outside of his boot to curl the ball towards the left corner of the box, where Suzov showed pace to get there in front of the defence, then skill to twist past him and get into the box, and finally composure, to draw the keeper and then shoot across him and just find the netting inside the far post. That was his 10th goal of the season, and his 11th wasn't very far behind it. Uryupin would again lay the goal on, reaching a clearance from Dmitry Yagodinskiy first, and then lofting it over the defence to once more utilise Suzov's pace. The APK rearguard couldn't match Suzov's determination, and this time the striker went for pure power with his finish, blasting the ball past Radjabov and into the top corner for a first half hat trick. That quickfire double knocked the spirit out of APK, and Uryupin would only be prevented from making another blistering run down the left by Erlan Kolosov's aggressive challenge. Vladimir Iljin drew another save out of Radjabov before the break.

A treble substitution from our visitors at the break showed their manager's displeasure with their first half efforts. He would have been even more unhappy if Patokin's close range effort had found the net rather than bouncing back off the post. He would then have been a bit more annoyed that his players wasted a chance to drag themselves back in the match, Karpenko beat Semenov with a low shot that went the wrong side of the post as far as he was concerned. He wouldn't have to wait much longer to see the ball in the net though, and there were no prizes for guessing who put it in there. Pavel Kryukov played a one-two with Yagondinskiy as we pushed APK into defending deeply, and the skipper sent in a cross that Suzov met with a bullet header. It thundered back off the bar, but with Radjabov prone on the floor from the first effort, there was no stopping our striker netting his fourth from the rebound.

We have shown in the past that we have a tendency to switch off a bit defensively when we build a lead. That tendency hit with a vengeance on the hour, Grigory Sidorov and Ilya Chibirov combined and found Nikolay Skiba in the box. When our defence woke up and converged on him, he slipped the ball square to Karpenko, who placed the ball over Semenov's shoulder and high into the net. Within a minute that three goal advantage had been reinstated, with Iljin twisting and turning on the left to find a yard of room and deliver a cross into the middle, Suzov rising above his marker to glance a header into the far corner and net his fifth of the afternoon.

I was determined to try and get my players to regain their focus, and the best way to do it was to make some changes. I resisted the urge to withdraw the man of the moment when he was on for a double hat trick, instead taking off Yagodinskiy, Timur Gogolidze and Iljin. They were replaced by debutant Vladislav Philippov, David Arabachyan and Vladislav Evseev, who would play in the shadow striker role. Suzov wouldn't get the chance of that six goal haul any time soon though we could and should have hit the half dozen ourselves when Uryupin netted from Kontantin Kamenskiy's header into the box, but the wide man hadn't quite managed to hold his run long enough, and was offside. When the final goal of the match did come in the 80th minute, it was a case of us shipping another goal that could have been avoided. Artem Zherebin charged upfield to make a challenge that he didn't need to make, and more crucially, didn't win. That left Philippov stuck with two players to deal with, and he couldn't manage that, Karpenko getting the ball past him to find Chiborov, who then found room between Semenov and the near post. There was one final chance for Suzov to cap an already glorious day, but the delivery was a bit behind him, and he could only hook the effort over the bar. He would have to settle for just the five goals today.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (3) 5 APK Azov (1) 3
Scorers :- Alexey Suzov (13,32,34,52,62)
Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy (Vladislav Philippov 72), Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze (David Arabachyan 72); Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin (Vladislav Evseev 72), Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 980. Man of the Match :- Alexey Suzov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

It didn't take a genius to work out who was the centre of attention after that performance, and the club even got a little bit of national coverage as a result of Suzov's goalscoring exploits. I was called by Eric Delap, a reporter from Eurosport, who asked what I had made of my strikers outing against APK. 'I'm just very relieved the Transfer Window is now closed' I replied with absolute honesty. Our frontman's five goal haul was a new Club and League Record for goals in a single match by an individual player, and meant he now had 13 goals in 13 competitive matches. Almost lost in all the clamour to heap praise on Suzov was the fact that we were now six League matches unbeaten, and Vladislav Philippov making a debut for the club. Our next test would be a week away, and was likely to be an altogether sterner test when we returned to Kubok Rossii action against a FAYuR side that are five tiers above us.

[neilhoskins77]

September 2015 (cont).

Teenage striker Daniil Oladapo wasn't happy with the amount of First Team football he's had, but even he had to realise his sense of timing for leverage wasn't great when he came to the office the day after Suzov's display of goalscoring. It was a pretty short conversation, 'Show you're capable of taking the shirt from this guy right now, and I'll be more inclined to listen'. He thanked me for hearing him out, and left as swiftly as he had arrived. Friday would see another visitor to the office, though this one came with information. Our Chief Scout is Rustam Gadjiev, and he has spent some time watching our next opponents, FAYuR, who would travel to face us on Wednesday in Round Three of Kubok Rossii. 'They are a side who are low on confidence, struggle for goals, and defensively they are unorganised. And before you ask, I don't even mean comparitevly against teams in their own Division, I'm just talking generally. They have managed more than one goal only twice, and have been held scoreless five times already. I suggest you continue to train as if we were preparing for a League match. I think we can take them.'

That was not the report I was expecting to hear, and I filtered the information down to the Coaching team, letting them know that it would be business as usual, and no special arrangements would be made. The visitors continued, and on Saturday it would be Alexandr Stepanov, another striker disgruntled with the amount of game time he is currently receiving. I approached with the same line I had taken Oladapo, but he quickly dismissed that, suggesting he is capable of just the same of Suzov had he been afforded the same amount of playing time. 'Well, I guess we'll find out should Suzov get injured or lose form.' Stepanov indictated that he may not still be around the club when that happened, and left, muttering to himself as he did so.

By the time we got to Tuesday, the build up to this huge game for the club was intensifying, with the local sports media predicting a new club record crowd for us. Eurosport were following us in the build up to the game, and Eric Delap was back in touch for a quick interview the day before the match. Presented with an opporunity to fan the flames and give a good story to a global media outlet and attempt to put our name out there, as well as sell some more tickets, I couldn't resist. 'Game plans often go out of the window when the Cup comes around, so there's no point filling the players heads with instructions. I'll be telling my players to do exactly what they've been doing so far this season, and I'm confident that we can show the five tier gap between our clubs is irrelevant.' Delap was eager to hear more, and asked what made me so confident we could come out on top. 'Well, I'm basing that thought on the fact that FAYuR just aren't that good to be honest Eric.' He smiled, said he had what he needed, and would be in touch if he needed anything else, wishing us luck before ending the call.

It was no shock that our opponents manager, Magomed Ljanov, was annoyed to hear my comments when Delap contacted him, and could only retort that he had very little interest in the opinion of managers who had achieved nothing in the game, and that he was now really looking forward to seeing his side overun us. It's an interesting comment from a manager who has won exactly nothing in the his five year management career to date. Before our big day at Central, the stadium would host an altogether less important match, as our Under-18's hosted Yugra Nizhnevartovsk on Tuesday afternoon. A marvellous individual goal from 16 year old right winger Alexey Tarasov had us ahead at the break, but we conceded two quick goals early in the second half. Daniil Oladapo headed an equaliser, before we fell behind once more, before German Burlyaev equalised late on, Tarasov adding two assists to his goal for an impressive afternoons work.

Wednesday 9th September 2015 - Kubok Rossii Third Round, First Leg.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v FAYuR.
(4-2-3-1) :- Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abulla Zilpukarov, Valery Golovchanov, Vladislav Philippov, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Vladimir Matveev, Vladislav Evseev, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

An unchanged matchday squad is picked for the match at Central against fifth tier club FAYuR. We break the 2,000 attendance barrier for the first time in the club's history, though the ticket income is not a club record. Our semi professional opponents include four players in their starting line up who are full time, and another one on the bench, and they are odds on favourites to win the First Leg and take a lead home with them for next weeks return match. My players on the other hand, are simply encouraged to go out and show the record crowd what they could do.

And we wasted no time doing that, ignoring the heavy downpour that had started just before the match did. We got hold of the ball, and flatly refused to let our visitors have it, and had the ball in the net with less than five minutes on the clock. We were pulling the FAYuR defence back and forth across the park when Vladimir Iljin poked it between the defenders for Kirill Uryupin to chase into the box, and lift over the oncoming keeper and into the far corner of the net, only to have his celebrations cut short by the assistants offside flag. It was a borderline decision at best. Still, we continued with our quick start, and in the 10th minute Konstantin Kamenskiy curled the ball left towards the exposed centre back Muslim Askhabov. He pannicked with Uryupin running towards him, and our wide man took the ball and hared into the box. Even with Sarat Diambekov coming across to help, Askhabov was still worried enough to grab a big handful of Uryupin's shirt and haul him to the floor, and the ref pointed to the spot. There wasn't much doubt who would take the penalty, and the ball was given to the man in form. Left footed, Alexey Suzov went low and hard to Inal Kozaev's left. The keeper went the right way, but the shot was too powerful, and we had ourselves a lead.

The goal advantage didn't mean a stop to the early onslaught, far from it. Timur Gogolidze spun away from his marker on the left corner of the box, and curled a peach of a cross towards the far post, Alexandr Patokin meeting it with a half volley that Kozaev had to use his legs to keep out. He couldn't keep us out next time we ventured forward in the 17th minute however. Artur Yamgurzin put a low throw to Uryupin on the left edge of the box, and with players piling forward, he gave it right back to the left back to send into the centre. Yamgurzin's cross was deep, and most players were left to watch it go over their heads. But skipper Pavel Kryukov had moved into the far post area, and left back Oleg Mamaev couldn't compete with him in the air. Kryukov connected with a header that found it's home just under the cross bar, and we were two goals to the good, the already mud caked Captain netting his first goal for the club.

FAYuR attempted to regroup as our delighted home fans roared us forward every time we crossed the halfway line. Askhabov earned a yellow card for a foul on Uryupin as the winger looked to beat him once more, and was probably lucky he hadn't already been carded when he gave away the penalty. Artem Zherebin followed him into the book shortly afterwards. As the break approached, Djokhar Sadaev sent across a corner for FAYuR that Sergey Gromnitskiy met with a powerful shot from close range, Pavel Kryukov taking one step across from off his post and stopping the ball with his chest. The ball just sat here, about 2 yards from the goal line, and in the ensuing melee, Nikita Semenov managed to stop it from being sent across the goal line and held onto it eventually.

Our opponents made a change at the break as they searched for an away goal at least to try and gain something to take home for next week's Second Leg. The beleagured Askhabov was taken off, and a striker was brought on, Akhsarbek Kirguev. In one of football's shortest cameo appearances, he went straight back off 36 seconds after the restart after landing awkwardly on his elbow following a challenge for the ball. With no other strikers to bring on, FAYuR were forced to go back to how they had been lined up, with defender Eldar Abushov coming on. FAYuR would quickly wish they did have another striker, as their fortunes took a turn in the 52nd minute. Alexandr Patokin over ran the ball on the right, and Sadaev quickly dispossessed him, and sent it forward to Gromnitskiy. With a three on two quickly developing, taking one for the team was required. Unfortunately, the player who took one was Zherebin, who had already been booked. He took his opponent out with body check that would have delighted a sell out opening night crowd in any NHL arena. He was already walking before the cards had been produced, firstly his second glimpse of yellow, swiftly followed by the resulting red. A change was required to allow us to keep some sort of shape, and Vladimir Iljin already knew it was to be him, as he was replaced by Vladislav Philippov.

The red card didn't seem to impact upon us too much to start with, and five minutes later, we should have had our third goal. Semenov's long goal kick floated just over the head of Murat Rezavov, and Kamenskiy controlled it and went into the box, but his low shot was straight at Kozaev. At the same end, Kirill Uryupin earned himself a yellow card for an over zealous appeal to the ref when his cross appeared to hit an arm. By this time, FAYuR had well and truly hit the panic button, bringing on Magomed Chicherin, a wet behind the ears novice centre back, on as their emergency striker to go to two men up front, brining off a legitimate striker to do so. That legitimate striker was their biggest threat, on loan Georgy Kulov. And it was Chicherin the ball fell to when Kusaev's centre was inadvertedly sent towards his own goal by Kamenskiy. The emergency striker screwed the shot well off target when looking the favourite to bring the score a little closer.

Chicherin was in close attendance when FAYuR did put the ball in the net in the 73rd minute. Sadaev's corner was sent right back to him by Kamenskiy, and at the second attempt, he found a team mate, Eldar Abushov, who managed to get just about enough on it to squeeze it between Kryukov and Semenov, the latter kicking his goal post in frustration. With an away goal to their name, and a one man advantage as the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds, our visitors were now looking to stream forward at every opportunity, while we were looking to fresh legs into the midfield to battle away for the latter stages, Kamenskiy and Gogolidze replaced by Vladislav Evseev and David Arabachyan.

There was a clear desire from the higher ranked club to get themselves level, and they were throwing players upfield for set pieces. In the 80th minute, a cross that was too deep went out of play on the far side, and Yamgurzin took the throw quickly, and found Evseev. He would play a quick one-two with fellow sub Arabachyan, and then send a defence splitting pass through the middle, and Suzov raced onto it, taking it into the box, and slipping the ball under Kozaev and putting us two goals ahead once more. That goal was Suzov's 15th of the season already, and ninety seconds later, he was left unmarked in the box and Arabachyan found him with a short pass, this time Kozaev got down smartly to turn the ball around the post. We looked like the team with the man advantage now, and FAYuR were making things worse for themselves every time they went forward, throwing players up the park and leaving themselves exposed. And we caught them again in the 87th minute. A corner was cleared out to Patokin and he set off down the right, making it to halfway before switching the ball into the acres of space on the left that Uryupin had. He ran it into the box, and then centred for that man again, Suzov volleying home from 8 yards out to complete his hat trick for the afternoon, and his 8th goal in two matches. We would have a three goal lead to take into the Second Leg next week, and FAYuR had no one to blame but themselves.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (2) 4 FAYuR (0) 1
Scorers :- Alexey Suzov (11 pen,80,87), Pavel Kryukov (17)
Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy (Vladislav Evseev 77), Timur Gogolidze (David Arabachyan 77); Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin (Vladislav Philippov 52), Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 2,016. Man of the Match :- Alexey Suzov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

[neilhoskins77]

September 2015 (cont).

The last thing a manager wants to hear after being thumped by a team five tiers lower than them is gloating. So it would be advisable for Magomed Ljanov to attempt some sort of media lockdown, as I was planning on really rubbing this in. 'I guess we now know that I'm not a liar, and far from deluded when I praise the ability levels we have in this squad.' Local radio had reached me first, quickly joined by a local TV station's news team and the sports dailies. 'If I can offer any consolation to Ljanov, it's that we're a tenth tier club on paper only. We're going places here at Metallurg, and I hope the whole city comes along for the ride. Really, the Russian Football Federation should find a way to fast track us up the Divisions in my opinion.' Ok, my mouth was running away with me now, but I was excited. I'd just watched my newly put together side wipe the floor with a semi pro club that should be miles ahead of us, and we'd done it a man light for most of the second half. The next question focussed on the Second Leg in a weeks time, something that FAYuR had failed to do when throwing players up the park time and time again today. 'I'm not worried about a backlash, I think we could play this lot every Saturday for the rest of the season, and they wouldn't be able to beat us by three goals.'

I went straight into the changing rooms, told the players they had been fantastic, and that they should go out as a team and enjoy themselves, and have the following day off, and that I'd see them all in training on Friday. My backroom staff, who had spent the last five minutes trying to calm down the players, looked at me as if I was some kind of lunatic. I stopped only long enough to have a quiet word in the ear of Artem Zherebin, telling him that while I understood why he had done what he did in the 52nd minute, he needed to be more smart than that, and on another day he could have cost us the game, and that he should consider this a warning to his future conduct. He nodded, apologised, and I left it at that, heading straight up to the Boardroom, where the celebrations were already in full swing.

Along with the other prominent members of the Board, the top man at the club, Andrey Ovsyannikov, was celebrating like we'd just won the League and Cup. While guilty myself of celebrating our achievement of getting half a job done as far as dispatching FAYuR from the Cup, and here to basically get my back slapped by the men who ran the club, I couldn't help but feel they were going a bit over the top. Still, their mood might help with the purpose of my visit. After declining their invitation to indulge in the table full of spirits they had in front of them, I managed to get the ear of the Chairman. 'I think we should consider going semi professional. The players are going to be sought after if we keep producing performances like that, and we're in no position to be able to prevent them from leaving and getting nothing back for them. We're making money, the attendances are good, we can really build something special here boss!' I'm not sure there's a Russian man on the planet that doesn't sound like a movie villain when he speaks English, and Ovsyannikov was no different, his speech slow and deliberate, which could have been his grasp on the language, or the copious amounts of vodka he'd ingested during the course of the match. 'We have been discussing this already before your rquest, and it's simply not a viable option right now. While we are making money, that would soon change if we started to pay players and staff. We haven't shown that we are able to get enough people into the stadium to make enough money for it to be an option. We need to be realistic right now. Concentrate on finishing off FAYuR next week, and getting us promoted if you believe your own words. We can discuss this again next summer. But right now, it's a firm no I'm afraid.'

I could understand the apprehension of my Chairman to move the club forward right away, and I guess I should be thankful for being at a club where they want to consider the long term future of the outfit, rather than mortgage the future on a whim. But I can't pretend I'm not disappointed by the decision. Someone more disappointed than me however, was Magomed Ljanov, and it was Thursday before he issued any kind of response to his teams abject performance. He stated that he would ignore the gloating that was coming from our side, and would focus on this weekends League match, and then plotting our downfall next week in Oktyabrskoye. His life wouldn't get any easier, with their next match scheduled against high flying Zvezda St Petersburg. If he was shocked at the circumstances he found himself in, there would be a shock for firstly myself, and then my players when they arrived for a training session on Friday before our weekend game. Taking my instructions to enjoy themselves on Wednesday night very literally indeed, they had not only celebrated right through the night, but well into the next day, the drinking session finishing early afternoon on Thursday. Needless to say there were still some who were quite the worse for wear on Friday, and determined to make sure there were still no ill effects on Saturday, I made them sweat it all out with a gruelling cardio session. They were warned that if their celebrations impacted on Saturdays performance, they would face an even more gruelling training routine on Monday. They would have plenty of time to think about that as well, as we would have a long trip for our next match.

Saturday 12th September 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Trud, Yartsevo.
Oasis Yartsevo v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Vladislav Philippov, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Valery Golovchanov, Marat Shashkov, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Vladimir Matveev, Vladislav Evseev, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

From near the border of Kazakhstan, we would travel west until we were close to the border of Belarus. There, in the town of Yartsevo, we would face 15th placed club Oasis Yartsevo. With the distance a long one, and the schedule packed, the club have stumped up for the team and staff to fly to Moscow, and then from there we would be on the coach for a four hour drive out to Yartsevo. Flying doesn't usually bother me, though this thing that the Chairman had rented for the trip scared the life out of me. It looked like it was held together with paint. It took the majority of the four hour coach trip to recover. Artem Zherebin had certainly picked a good weekend to be suspended. His place in the side went to Vladislav Philippov, which meant a call up to the First Team squad for Marat Shashkov, who would sit on the bench.

The ground in Yartsevo was small, compact, and busy, with a perfect playing surface. It was weird that I was jealous considering our facilities, the playing surface apart of course.  I was concerned that our long travel day would be an issue, maybe even as much as the hangovers. I need not have worried, as we got off to a blistering start. Pavel Kryukov tried a cross from deep on the right, but it hit a defender in mid flight. Alexandr Patokin retrieved the ball, and rolled it back to the skipper, who tried again. This time he picked out Kirill Uryupin, who took advantage of the defence concentrating on Alexey Suzov, and rose above his marker to meet the ball with a firm header that found the net via the underside of the bar to hand us a 7th minute lead. Seven minutes later, and we doubled that lead. Konstantin Kamenskiy floated a corner into the near post area that Vladislav Philippov tried to glance towards goal. He didn't get quite enough on it, and it made it's way towards a group of players near the far post. Amongst that group was Uryupin, who stuck out a boot and redirected the ball past a statue like Ali Djabbarov, and netted his 5th goal of the campaign.

There were certainly more goals to be had for us, but a combination of wastefulness and good defending meant that we were stuck on just the two for the time being, though that was looking to be more than enough against an Oasis side who were struggling to string more than a few passes together. Uryupin should have completed a third hat trick in as many games for Magnitogorsk players when Oasis' players failiure to be able to pass to people in the same coloured shirts led to Vladimir Iljin taking possession thirty yards out and slotting it into the wingers path. It was on his weaker right foot, but even so, the finish wasn't a good one, and cleared the cross bar. Still, a two goal advantage at the break meant all was good in our world.

Oasis made three changes at the break, something we are now very used to. That Oasis made three fairly attacking changes at the break, was however, new. Three and a half minutes after the restart, Patokin attempted to swing in a free kick from the touchline, which didn't beat the first man, home skipper Grigory Nesterenko. He didn't just head it clear, he headed it right to the feet of substitute Kirill Laptev, who sprinted down the park on an ambitious looking counter attack. With only two players in front of him as he got around 35 yards from goal, he sent it right to the only other player on his team who had kept up with the break, striker Narula Kudrin. He took the pass in his stride, moved into the box, and slipped the ball low just past the feet of Nikita Semenov and halved our lead with their first chance of the match.

Now I was out of the dugout urging my players to concentrate. Kamenskiy sent the ball into the right channel of the box from Patokin, who's turn inside left his marker for dead. His attempt to cross the ball was too close to the keeper however, and he punched it away, only right back to Patokin though. This time the winger dinked the ball into the centre, where Uryupin was once again lurking. He controlled the ball on his chest, leaving the defender who was expecting a shot sprawled on the deck. He then sent his shot against the keeper's run, trying to aim where Djabbarov was moving from, but the keeper extended an arm and somehow kept it out. The chances to kill off Oasis kept coming, good work on the left from Yamgurzin and then Uryupin, sent Vladimir Iljin free in the box. The keeper came to him, and the veteran forward took too long to make his decision, eventually shooting right at the keeper, when a square pass would have left Suzov with an open goal to aim at. From the resulting corner, Yamgurzin directed a header right at Djabbarov.

A goal was coming, we could feel it, as we continued to create chance after chance. Suzov was the latest to fail in an attempt to restore our comfort lead, scuffing a low curling effort after Iljin had played him in, and making it easy enough for Djabbarov to push it clear. And then the sucker punch. Kamenskiy lost a 50/50 tackle on halfway and Laptev sent it into midfield, continuing his own run forward. Yegor Zaripov sent it on to Rasul Salikhov, and his diagonal pass sent it back to Laptev. He had company in Dmitry Yagodinskiy, but was in the box now, and our centre back dared not put in a challenge, leaving Laptev to produce a finish high into the net, and remove our lead from the scoreboard. I booted a water bottle down the touchline in sheer frustration, earning myself a rebuke from the fourth official.

I didn't panic right away....I waited about 5 minutes, and then panicked. A triple substitution was made, Yagodinskiy and Kamenskiy were spent, and came off to be replaced by Marat Shashkov and David Arabachyan. Further up the park, I took off Iljin, and brought on Alexandr Stepanov, who I hoped would provide a more effective magnet for the ball and be able to hold it up more than Iljin, and help bring Suzov into a match that had passed him by for large periods. It didn't work. Roared on by their noisy home support who had ignored the lashing rain in the second half, Oasis defended stoutly, and earned their point, which wasn't to say I didn't consider it as us dropping two. That was very much the way I was looking at it.

Oasis Yartsevo (0) 2 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (2) 2
Scorers :- Kirill Uryupin (7,14)
Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy (Marat Shashkov 79), Vladislav Philippov, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy (David Arabachyan 79), Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin (Alexandr Stepanov 79), Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 1,409. Man of the Match :- Kirill Uryupin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

Two-thirds of the possession, and four times as many shots at goal, with ten on target compared to the oppositions two. As the players settled on the coach to head back to Moscow for our return flight on Air Rust, I had a strong word. 'I'm going to put that one down to the long travel this morning, and not the drinking from the other night lads, and the tough training session I promised is provisionally suspended for now. But I'm giving you all fair warning right now, if you throw away the lead we've built against FAYuR on Wednesday night, I'll work you all so hard in every training session that you'll never want to touch another drop in your lives!'

We had a long journey back, so I started looking at what else had happened in the League that day. Volgodonsk had won again, away from home this time. I couldn't help but think they were going to take quite some hauling back. Salyut Belgorod had suffered the same fate as ourselves, held to a draw away from home. That meant we had both been leapfrogged by FC Balakovo, who had defeated another side hoping to get amongst the front runners, Spartak Kurgan. I got a tap on the shoulder from my Assistant. 'Seen the FAYuR score?' he enquired. I hadn't, it was something I had planned to take a look at the following day. 'Beaten 5-0 at home by Zvezda St Petersburg' he elaborated. 'Talk that Ljanov could well get the boot if they don't manage to turn the Cup tie around.' I nodded to indicate I understood, and then turned back around in my seat, unable to prevent the smile from crossing my face. 'Wouldn't that be a shame' I couldn't help thinking to myself.

[neilhoskins77]

September 2015 (cont).

It's not the done thing in football, to wish the sack on another manager. There is a generally unspoken of camaraderie and support network amongst those in a job where the exit door is often only a few poor results away. But I'd felt none of that camaraderie or support from Magomed Ljanov, despite being a new to the job novice. So if someone had asked me point blank if I'd be happy to be in the opposition technical area and effectively be the one to get Ljanov the sack on Wednesday, the answer would have been that it would not bother me in the slightest. I'm sure if I was asked a similar question in ten, twenty, maybe thirty years time, my answer would be very different. Not today though. Not right now. All I cared about right now was Wednesday, Magnitogorsk, and myself. At this stage, I saw nothing wrong with that either.

There wasn't much League action on Sunday, just two games, one of them featuring Kraznoznamensk, who we would face in less than a week, the middle section of a spell of four matches in a week and a half that would begin away to FAYuR on Wednesday. That hectic schedule would likely require some squad rotation, which made the timing of the injury to Vladimir Matveev in Sunday afternoon's Reserve match all the more unfortunate. The 45 year old forward hadn't managed to land much game time since his arrival, and he would likely miss the rest of the year as well, injuring a hip during a tackle just seven minutes into Sunday afternoon's second string fixture away to Dinamo Izhevsk. The initial estimate would have Matveev missing the rest of the season, but we were informed that specialist treatment at a cost of less than £200 would better than half that. That was an easy decision, and Matveev would get the best care we could provide him with. That didn't stop almost immediate rumours that the veteran forward would retire. He hasn't yet made a decision on that, but it was a moment of passing the torch almost when his replacement seven minutes into that match was young Alan Kotsyubinskiy. And now it would be the young midfielder who would be called up into the First Team squad to provide cover. The Reserves were thumped 4-0.

On Tuesday, the media reported that ticket sales for the match on Wednesday were poor, down over 20% on an average matchday in Oktyabrskoye when FAYuR were playing. We would only have a handful of fans travelling with the team and club officials. It looked like the fans were voting with their feet on FAYuR's prospects of their side overhauling the deficit, and Ljanov turning around the fortunes of the club. It was a big day for the club, but there was nothing like as much media attention this time around, maybe they thought the tie was over as well? On Tuesday night, the Under-18's played away to FC 999 Izhevsk, where Daniil Oladapo hit a hat trick in a 3-1 win to keep the age group side top of their League.

Wednesday 16th September 2015 - Kubok Rossii Third Round, Second Leg.
SOK Imeni E.Tedeeva, Oktyabrskoye.
FAYuR (1) v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (4).
(4-2-3-1) :- Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Vladislav Philippov, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Valery Golovchanov, Artem Zherebin, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Alan Kotsyubinskiy, Vladislav Evseev, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

Artem Zherebin may have completed his suspension, but he wasn't about to walk straight back into the lineup, and Vladislav Philippov continues to partner Dmitry Yagodinskiy in the centre of defence for this one. In the only other change to the squad, Alan Kotsyubinskiy comes into the First Team squad in place of the injured Vladimir Matveev, and takes his place on the substitutes bench. This 10,000 capacity stadium has less than 500 people in it for the match, which would be played in warm conditions.

We made a good start to the game, with Alexandr Patokin in particular keen to get on the ball and test his marker, Oleg Mamaev. He found a way past him early on, with the help of Konstantin Kamenskiy, who then sent the ball on to Vladimir Iljin. The shadow striker sent the ball into the box with an around the corner pass, and picked out Patokin who had continued his run, but Inal Kozaev was off his line quickly to narrow the angle, and Patokin fired right at him. The majority of the first half was ourselves holding FAYuR at arms length, while also attempting to keep them concerned about the counter attack at the same time. Shortly after looking like they were starting to get frustrated, and Arsen Guseinov earned himself a booking, the home side had their best spell of the game. Some crisp passing had the ball in the back of the net, but Akhsarbek Kirguev hadn't quite managed to hold his run when Sergey Gromnitskiy played his pass in, and Nikita Semenov watched on as the ball was put in the net, the forward oblivious to the offside flag that would keep the score locked at zero all. But not for much longer. As the clock struck 45 minutes, Guseinov sent in a corner, and Kirguev escaped the defence to crash in a volley and hand FAYuR a boost as they headed in for the break.

I was keen to stress to the players at the break that there was no reason for us to panic. We still had a two goal advantage on aggregate, and had matched up well against FAYuR in that first half. The players were told that they needed to be on full alert in the early stages of the second half though, as the opposition would be buoyed by that strike before the interval. The hosts did make one change at the break, as Magomed Chicherin, the man who was their emergency striker in the First Leg, and now their right back in the Second Leg, came off, and was replaced by an actual right back, Ilja Dokuev, as FAYuR looked to try and bring some added width into their play. We had to make a change of our own as well at half time, Vladimir Iljin had sustained a facial injury at the end of the first half, catching an arm in the face after dropping back to unsuccessfuly help defend the corner. He is replaced by Vladislav Evseev, who may lack physical presence in the shadow striker role, but does bring some pace and ability to beat a defender.

FAYuR didn't manage to get the start to the second half that they were hoping for, which was certainly a relief for us. They made two more changes fairly early in the second half, with both impacting the defence, switching left back in the 52nd minute, and a change at centre back in the 57th minute. In the 74th minute, a clearance up the park by Kozaev was easily picked off the Patokin, who headed the ball into the feet of Evseev in the centre circle. He sent it the ball in front of Alexey Suzov, but Murat Revazov prevented him doing anything with it, timing a sliding tackle well. He didn't pay attention to where the ball would go though, and it became an effeective through ball to Kirill Uryupin, the winger not appreaciating how much time he actually had, shooting early, and missing the target.

Two minutes later, and we thought we were level on the day, as Pavel Kryukov pinged a ball across the park to a totally unmarked Uryupin, who easily fired home, but the goal was ruled out for offside. No matter, a minute later and we were level. Evseev sent Suzov down the left channel, and he sent it back across the park for Kamenskiy. The midfielder was brought to the ground by Guseinov, who was already on a yellow card, but the ref was spared from making a decision, as the ball made it's way to Patokin, and he played a first time pass in for Timur Gogolidze, the midfielder sidefooting into the bottom corner from 12 yards out to level the score on the day, and get us a priceless away goal too.

I made two quick changes after that goal, with Vladislav Philippov's lack of match practice catching up with him, and Artem Zherebin came on in his place. Further up the park, goalscorer Gogolidze would also come off after a great effort, and youngster Alan Kotsyubinskiy would be rewarded with some First Team game time at the end of this match. It didn't look like such a smart move a few moments later, when Kotsyubinskiy tried to pick a difficult pass out to free Uryupin. The ball was intercepted by Dokuev, and FAYuR moved up the park swiftly, as the defender found Saduev and he moved it on to Georgy Kulov. The striker picked out Gromnitskiy, who had managed to get goal side of Artur Yamgurzin, and he lifted the ball over Semenov, and it dropped just under the bar to bring the aggregate arrears back down to two goals again. It was good to see Pavel Kryukov, the clubs Captain, put his arm around the young midfielder and give him a quick impromptu pep talk. There was not too much damage done as far as we concerned, as we saw out the remaining time with some slick passing, and old fashioned time wasting tactics. We might have had a penalty when Patokin thought he was felled by Revazov, but the ref wasn't interested in our injury time appeals. Twenty seconds later, the whistle blew, and we had completed a superb giant killing feat, despite falling on the day to our first defeat in eleven games since our loss in early August against Energia Chaykovskiy.

FAYuR (1) 2 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (0) 1 - (Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk win 5-3 on aggregate).
Scorers :- Timur Gogolidze (76)
Nikita Semenov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Vladislav Philippov (Artem Zherebin 77), Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze (Alan Kotsyubinskiy 77); Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin (inj - Vladislav Evseev 45), Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 437. Man of the Match :- Georgy Kulov (FAYuR).

We're into the Fourth Round, which far exceeds the Boards expectations for this competition, and the draw will be made tomorrow. It comes at a cost, with Vladimir Iljin ruled out for around a fortnight with his facial injury, the club stating that they were unwilling to pay for the specialist protective equipment available that would allow Iljin to play through the injury. The draw for Round Four was made on Thursday morning, and was eagerly anticipated by all at the club, as the potential for a tie with a big name and reputation club was increasing with each round we made it through. The pay day and exposure for the club with a draw like that would be huge. So it was all rather an anti climax when we were drawn to face fellow 10th tier club, Zvezdy Dobryanka. They play in Group Two of 4.PRSLFK, and after losing and drawing their opening two matches in the League, they have then won every League match since, and sit third in their Division. They have been handed fairly kind draws so far in Kubok Rossii, beating a tenth tier club in Round One, and then a 9th tier side in Round Two. In Round Three, while we were facing and beating a club from the fifth tier, they were facing Energetik Uren from our Division, who we beat away from home in mid August when we met in the League. They lost the First Leg at home by a score of 2-1, but away from home then produced a good performance to win 3-0. Our matches with them would be scheduled for early October on back to back Wednesdays, with no League match in between. We would play at home in the First Leg.

[neilhoskins77]

September 2015 (cont).

Before we could worry about the next challenge in the Kubok Rossii competition, we had a quickfire treble of League games to negotiate. The first of which would be on Saturday, and a home match with 18th placed Reformatsia Abakan at Central. The average attendance for our home League matches so far was just short of 1,000, and the box office staff were predicting we would get a four figure crowd for this match against a club that averages the second best crowds in the Divison despite their lowly position, getting nearly three times as many regular followers into the ground as us. They would bring one of the highest number of away fans to Central so far this season too, bringing around 30 fans with them for this match. The bookies didn't believe that band of travelling supporters would have anything to celebrate, as they made us firm 2/5 favourites for the points on Saturday afternoon.

It wouldn't be a Saturday morning on a matchday at Central without something going on to distract from the match ahead, and today would be no different. Uzbek target man, Vladislav Aleksin looked a little sheepish as he came to the office, almost as if he felt he should come and knock on the door to stake his claim as he was the only First Team striker who wasn't playing regularly and hadn't done so as yet. He said he was surprised that a player of his calibre was having such difficulty getting a game, and that he really needed some First Team football. To be fair, I told him exactly the same as I had told Oladapo and Stepanov before him, that there was place in the system for one striker currently, and neither he or anybody else would convince me that Suzov deserved to be dropped right now. He said he understood, and left the office. I couldn't help but think that some more fight would be required if and when he got a run of games in the side.

Saturday 19th September 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v Reformatsia Abakan.
(4-2-3-1) :- Valery Golovchanov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, David Arabachyan; Vladislav Evseev, Alan Kotsyubinskiy, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Nikita Semenov, Vladislav Philippov, Evgeny Korota, Timur Gogolidze, Alexandr Patokin, Daniil Oladapo, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

The pressing schedule meant changes would be required, and I figured that today would be a good day to rotate the side a little, and made five changes. They started in goal, where Nikita Semenov was relieved of duties, and Valery Golovchanov would make his debut for the club. I wasn't blaming Semenov for our inability to keep a clean sheet at all, but the fact remained that we hadn't managed one while he had been in goal, and Golovchanov brought an awful lot of experience to the side. In front of him, Artem Zherebin would return to the centre of defence, with Vladislav Philippov back on bench duties. In the centre of midfield, Timur Gogolidze had earned himself a rest, with the cultured passing of David Arabachyan brought in to replace him, while Alan Kotsyubinskiy would make his first start, playing out of position in the shadow striker role vacated by the injured Vladimir Iljin. The final change was on the right, where Alexandr Patokin is rested, and Vladislav Evseev gets an opportunity to reintegrate himself into the starting lineup. Those changes leave a spare place on the subs bench, which is taken by Daniil Oladapo.

I told the players before the match that just because we had made changes, didn't mean we should take the opposition lightly. That was a downright lie to be honest, I was expecting us to win comfortably today. The sun was casting reflections of the stand roof over the pitch as we kicked off, beautiful conditions, though more then 20 degrees cooler than it had been on Wednesday night. Winter was definetly on the way in Eastern Europe.

Our visitors didn't look very comfortable on the ball, but they still created the first real chance of the match in the tenth minute. Aslan Yemeljanov took the ball down the right channel, and then played a one two with Albert Pschenichnikov. He got the ball back just inside the box, and aimed a shot towards the far corner, Valery Golovchanov, wearing club colour sleeves under his keepers jersey against the cold, pushed the ball away, but only into the path of Victor Karasev, who shot against the upright. They would pay for that missed chance in the 13th minute. Vladislav Evseev sent across a free kick from near the corner flag, Artur Yamgurzin tried to flick it on, a defender tried to head clear, and the ball ended up on the boot of Dmitry Yagodinskiy eight yards out. Even a centre back wasn't missing from there, he drilled a low shot into the net and gave us the lead.

With little else of note happening in the opening half, I told the players at the break that I wanted to see more from them, and I wanted this game put out of Reformatsia's reach. They didn't disappoint either. From the restart, an attempted through ball was blocked by Konstantin Kamenskiy, who took control and sent Evseev into acres of space on the right. He had limited options in the box, but sent it towards the far post anyway. At first look, it looked like a defender had turned the ball right into his own net, but when things are going well for you, everything seems to fall your way, and Kirill Uryupin didn't have to do much, as the ball actually deflected off the defender and then Uryupin's knee on it's way into the net. Reformatsia had an almost immediate opportunity to respond, as Karasev sent a lofted diagonal pass over the defence and into the run of fresh from the bench Dair Alenichev. He ran into the box, and then fired wide of the target.

That looked like it took all the fight out of the opponents. From then on, they were second to every loose ball, and Golovchanov's long clearance towards the left wing was allowed to bounce twice between a pair of defenders, and Uryupin swept in and took the ball between the pair of them, ran into the box, but curled the shot just the wrong side of the far post. The long ball over the defence was there for us all afternoon, and even Artem Zherebin was spreading the ball around, putting it through for Alexey Suzov. An awkward bounce meant he had to check his run, and that allowed Vladlen Volodin to block the shot. I made my changes to get some fresh legs onto the park, with Yagodinskiy, Kamenskiy and Suzov all coming off. On came Vladislav Philippov, Vladislav Aleksin and Alexandr Stepanov. That meant Alan Kotsyubinskiy moving back into his more natural midfield position, Aleksin going into the shadow striker role, and Stepanov went up front. The new striker would be next to benefit from Zherebin's new found playmaker skills, this time the centre back drilled the ball between the centre backs and Stepanov ran onto it, having two bites at the cherry, and seeing Nail Yershov block both. Moments later and we would get the third goal our play deserved, Evseev sending in a corner that Artur Yamgurzin got his head to, and squeezed the ball between the upright and Alenichev, getting his first goal for the club and wrapping up a pretty comfortable afternoon's work.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) 3 Reformatsia Abakan (0) 0
Scorers :- Dmitry Yagodinskiy (13), Kirill Uryupin (46), Artur Yamgurzin (87)

Valery Golovchanov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy (Vladislav Philippov 72), Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy (Vladislav Aleksin 72), David Arabachyan; Vladislav Evseev, Alan Kotsyubinskiy, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov (Alexandr Stepanov 72).
Attendance :- 1,028. Man of the Match :- Artur Yamgurzin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

This was our 8th match since our last clean sheet, and that meant a good start for Valery Golovchanov to his playing career in Magnitogorsk. It was just as good to see young Nikita Semenov make a beeline for his goalkeeping colleague at the final whistle and congratulate him on his shutout. I envisage the youngster learning a lot from his experienced new competition, and I see Dmitry Galyuk have some job to get himself back involved again. We're looking good for keepers. Also singled out for praise after the match was Artur Yamgurzin, the left back showing that as well as being solid defensively, he could also be a threat at the other end, and breaking his duck, one of the few regular players who hadn't yet netted this season.

That win now it made it eight unbeaten in the League since the start of August, five wins and three draws, and 100% at home in that period across both League and Cup. It didn't help close the gap on Volgodonsk though, as they also won again, this time 1-0 at home to Velmash Luki. However, the other two clubs currently looking to be in the race were playing against each other. Salyut Belgorod and FC Balakovo played out a 2-2 draw, which allowed us to leap up into second place. We would now face Kraznoznamensk next away from home on Tuesday night, and they had just shifted themselves up the League table a bit with an away win against APK Azov.

[neilhoskins77]

September 2015 (cont).

It would be a short turnaround for our next match on Tuesday, but there was another game at Central as quickly as Sunday afternoon. Our Reserves came from behind against FC 999 Izhevsk Reserves after going behind early, scoring two goals in the space of a few minutes midway through the half, Georgy Tolstykh putting the ball into his own net, and Vladislav Aleksin heading us in front. We couldn't hold on though, and shipped an equaliser just over ten minutes later, the match finishing 2-2. Attention would turn to our League match away to FC Krasnoznamensk, who started the season poorly, but have now collected 10 points from their last four matches since being knocked out of Kubok Rossii and could find themselves in the top half if they managed to beat us on Tuesday evening. Their improved form didn't persuade the bookies that they could get the points though, and we were made Even money favourites.

Tuesday 22nd September 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Stroitel, Selyatino.
FC Krasnoznamensk v Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk.
(4-2-3-1) :- Valery Golovchanov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, David Arabachyan; Vladislav Evseev, Alan Kotsyubinskiy, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Nikita Semenov, Vladislav Philippov, Evgeny Korota, Timur Gogolidze, Alexandr Patokin, Daniil Oladapo, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

After our clinical performance last time out, I decided to leave the same lineup and substitutes in place, and that looked a good decision with just over five minutes on the clock. Artem Zherebin threaded a pass from the halfway line to the left wing, and picked out Kirill Uryupin. The winger teased the home sides right back mercilessly, before sending a high cross into the centre of the six yard box. From that far out, Alexey Suzov wouldn't be stopped, and he crashed his header into the net, Atrem Obozny's hand to it not nearly enough, and he netted for the 17th time this campaign, quickly giving credit to Uryupin for his lethal cross.

The quality of that cross and header would quickly look out of place in this match, as it became a fairly bad tempered affair. By the time we'd reached the midway point of the first half, the ref had lost his patience, and started to produce cards. By the time we got to the break, Krasnoznamensk were behind on that score too, as Artem Zherebin and Artur Yamgurzin had both had their name taken, while Hasan Malakhov had seen yellow for the hosts.

My opposite number burned all of his substitutions at the half time break in an attempt to get his side back into the match. He could, maybe should, have had a helping hand in that quest ten minutes after the restart, as Yamgurzin was extremely fortunate to stay on the park after a mistimed challenge out near the touchline. The ref warned him that another one would see him walking, and I asked Evgeny Korota to warm up with a view to replacing my walking on eggshells left back. Before I could get him off the park however, we were 2-0 up. A clever backheel in the centre circle from David Arabachyan found Alan Kotsyubinskiy. He lifted the ball between the right centre back and full back, and Uryupin's first touch took him away from the defence, and into the left channel of the box. He produced a sublime finish as well, lobbing the ball over the keeper leaving him stranded, and watching the ball drop under the cross bar and into the far corner.

Yamgurzin would come off, and Korota came on for his club debut, though he wouldn't cover himself in glory right away. Our hosts earned a free kick in the 63rd minute, and Malakhov sent it out wide, where Korota was very noticeably absent. Ernest Bolloev took advantage of that extra space and sent an inch perfect cross to the edge of the box. The finish wasn't too bad either, a downward header from Evgeny Trizna that bounced beyond Valery Golovchanov's reach and into the bottom corner of the net. I reacted to that goal by making another change in my defence, and bringing off the other booked defender Artem Zherebin, and replacing him with Vladislav Philippov.

The newest member of our back four in this match was called into almost immediate action, as Philippov headed a cross away, and Korota managed to complete the clearance. Artur Kismetov would get to the ball ahead of Alexey Suzov on halfway, and he sent it straight back up the park. It went to Stanislav Zabolotny near the edge of the box, who had found himself between our two centre backs. He turned and sent a left footed shot that beat our keeper for the second time in five minutes, and our lead had been wiped out.

As happy as I had been with our performance on the weekend, I was every bit as unhappy with our defensive performance in this second half. Now we had to go looking for a goal to get our noses back in front, and David Arabachyan came off, with Timur Gogolidze coming on in his place in the 72nd minute. We thought we had that crucial goal as well when Uryupin flew into a challenge to win the ball and then get the return pass from Suzov. The ball was sent to the far post, and Vladislav Evseev tucked it home easily from close range. He was flagged for offside, and it was a correct decision. The ref started flourishing yellow cards again late in the game, with Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Konstantin Kamenskiy and Korota all having their names taken. We were hampered slightly in the final stages when Kotsyubinskiy took a flailing arm to the face, and the best chance to win the match went to the hosts, but David Belyanin blasted that chance wide. I'm unsure if we escaped with a point or dropped two, but either way, I wasn't a happy manager.

FC Krasnoznamensk (0) 2 Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) 2
Scorers :- Alexey Suzov (6), Kirill Uryupin (56)
Valery Golovchanov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin (Vladislav Philippov 66), Artur Yamgurzin (Evgeny Korota 56); Konstantin Kamenskiy, David Arabachyan (Timur Gogolidze 72); Vladislav Evseev, Alan Kotsyubinskiy, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 530. Man of the Match :- Kirill Uryupin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

We would have to wait 24 hours at least to see what kind of damage if any that draw would do, as all our rivals at the top of the table would play on Wednesday. Left back Evgeny Korota declares himself delighted to have finally made his debut for the club, though I suspect there will be many at the club who will be less than delighted with his contribution in that match. However, what's done is done, and we're going to need him through this season, so hopefully he can step things up. Alan Kotsyubinskiy earned his first Senior assist when providing the through ball for Kirill Uryupin, but he caught a whack in the face late in the game and has some pretty nasty bruising that will rule him out for about ten days. He'll miss the League game this weekend, but should be available should we need him when we go back into Kobok Rossii action.

On a more positive note, Kirill Uryupin was named man of the match again after a goal and an assist, and he would've had another assist if Vladislav Evseev had managed to stay onside and score the winner. It wasn't just that though, he put in a huge shift down the left side, and is quickly becoming a fan favourite in Magnitogorsk. On the same side of the park, Artur Yamgurzin picked up his fifth booking of the season, and will be forced to sit out our next match, a very winable looking home match with struggling Spartak Shuya on the weekend.

[neilhoskins77]

September 2015 (cont).

As September draws to a close, the League is starting to take shape, though we are only around a quarter of the way through the fixture schedule, and there is a long, long way to go yet. We head towards our match with Spartak Shuya, which will then see a two week break in League action. On Wednesday, our Reserves are in action again, this time away to Dinamo-Novovyatich. They are becoming specialists in the art of the draw too, as they notch another with a 1-1 result. 17 year old full back Artem Veretennikov got our goal, with striker Semyon Kulakov named as the standout player, successfully coming through 90 minutes for the first time on his return from an early season injury. The results of the Reserve and Under-18 fixtures are nowhere near as important as the chance to give match time to fringe players, and help develop our younger lads and get them used to systems.

Later in the day, the remaining clubs played their matches in matchday twelve of the League, and Volgodonsk were finally beaten, losing away to Balakovo, who leapt back over us and up into second place. Salyut Belgorod lost ground again, as they were beaten away to Fabus Bronnitsy, who were now level with them on points. Biokhimik-Mordovia were also moving themselves up into position, with a 4-3 win over Irtysh Tobolsk. They blew a 3-1 lead, before winning it at the death with a late free kick. Our weekend opponents moved themselves off the foot of the table with a 3-2 home win over APK Azov.

On Thursday I made an unannounced visit to the Boardroom, and sat down with the Chairman. I told Andrey Ovsyannikov that I would like to go on a Coaching course to improve my National 'C' Licence to a 'B' level. I told him that I was worried about our tendency for throwing away leads, and wanted to use the course to improve my tactical knowledge from a defensive aspect. I was quite surprised when the boss said no, and justified that by saying that the club were very happy to the start to my career in Magnitogorsk, and were not prepared to risk investing in my improvement only for me to then go and use it at another club potentially. I couldn't really reply to that as I had no contract of any worth, but equally no job security either. I would just have to accept the clubs decision for now, though I was disappointed. Later in the day our Under-18's returned to the top of their League with a 1-1 draw away to ORTO Izhevsk, with Daniil Oladapo getting our goal, his 12th in nine matches for the age group team.

Saturday 26th September 2015 - Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v Spartak Shuya.
(4-2-3-1) :- Valery Golovchanov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Evgeny Korota; David Arabachyan, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladislav Aleksin, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Nikita Semenov, Vladislav Philippov, Marat Shashkov, Konstantin Kamenskiy, Igor Podymov, Alexandr Patokin, Daniil Oladapo, Alexandr Stepanov.

We're overwhelming favourites for this match, to the tune of 1/6 with some bookmakers. With Artur Yamgurzin suspended, there is an immediate chance for Evgeny Korota to put last weeks sub par debut as a substitute behind him, as he would make his first start. In the centre of the park, Konstantin Kamenskiy is rested this time, with Timur Gogolidze brought back into the side to partner David Arabachyan. Just ahead of those, Vladimir Iljin passes a fitness test, but it's decided that he won't be risked today, and will be kept instead for the Kubok Rossii matches. With Alan Kotsyubinskiy out, the Uzbek striker Vladislav Aleksin is called into action as an emergency shadow striker. On the bench, Marat Shashkov is called up to sit on the bench, as is 16 year old centre midfielder Igor Podymov, who is called up to the Senior squad for the first time, and could make his Senior football bow if called upon.

It was cold, wet, and windy. And it's not even winter yet. I got to thinking that I'd definetly need a new coat as I prowled the touchline in the early stages of the match. Maybe it was only fitting that the match took some time to warm up, the opening quarter of the match bringing very little in the way of action. That changed midway through the first half, when Vladislav Evseev made a powerful run down the right, and then sent a low cross towards the near post. The Spartak defenders didn't spot the darting run from Alexey Suzov, and he got between the centre backs, slid across the turf, and got enough on the ball to push it inside the near post and put us a goal ahead. That was as much as there was on offer for attacking football in the first half.

Our opponents made the usual and predictable three changes at the break, while we stayed as we were. I told my players that under no circumstances would I accept them throwing away another lead, and I demanded their full concentration. They didn't quite follow my instructions to the letter, and in the 54th minute, a short free kick found it's way to Konstantin Pyvin, and he sent the ball through a huge gap in our defence to Alexandr Chervichenko. The striker had enough time to pick his spot, but he selected one far too close to Valery Golovchanov, and the keeper pushed the ball around the post. That brought about a series of corners for Spartak, but on the third, Dmitry Yagodinskiy headed the ball clear of the box and found Evseev. The forward sent a long ball up the park, and Suzov had the pace to get to the ball ahead of both covering defenders, surge into the box, and sidefoot his shot beyond Andrey Chernyshov and net his second of the afternoon.

With Spartak looking unlikely to be able to muster anything that would resemble a comeback, I started to make changes, with the first coming in the 63rd minute, as Artem Zherebin came off, and Vladislav Philippov would come on for some much needed match time. Just over ten minutes later, and match unfit Evgeny Korota saw his much more promising second game for the club brought to an end, and with no left back on the bench, Abdulla Zilpukarov was given his debut for the club, albeit on the opposite flank to where he usually plays. And with less than five minutes to play, Vladislav Aleksin, who had done a solid job also playing out of position came off, and Alexandr Stepanov would deputise for the last few moments. Stepanov would try to get on the end of a corner that headed clear, but the ball came right back into Spartak's box. Renat Strakhov would clear that cross, but only as far as Timur Gogolidze. The midfielder surveyed the situation in front of him, and then sent a low left footed shot from 25 yards out skidding across the soaked surface, and into the bottom corner of the net. 3-0, job done.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (1) 3 Spartak Shuya (0) 0
Scorers :- Alexey Suzov (23,56), Timur Gogolidze (88)
Valery Golovchanov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin (Vladislav Philippov 63), Evgeny Korota (Abdulla Zilpukarov 74); David Arabachyan, Timur Gogolidze; Vladislav Evseev, Vladislav Aleksin (Alexandr Stepanov 86), Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Attendance :- 999. Man of the Match :- Alexey Suzov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

Another League match, and another player making his debut for the club, with Abdulla Zilpukarov making his Senior bow for the club, and playing his first match in Russian football since leaving Leki Magaramkent in 2009, having played his football in Azerbaijan since then. A brace from Alexey Suzov earns him another man of the match award, and the striker now has 19 goals in as many competitive appearances so far this season, which is an outstanding effort, only just missing out on hitting the 20 goal mark before the end of September.

After suffering their first defeat of the season in midweek, Volgodonsk drop another two points today, held 2-2 at home by Fabus Bronnitsy. With FC Balakovo winning 1-0 away from home against Kuban Slavyansk-na-Kubani, and ourselves winning as well, there are now just two points seperating the top three clubs. There is then a five point gap back to Fabus, and behind them are now Energia Chaykovskiy, who move up after their 4-1 win over Kuban Brannikovskiy, and have a game in hand as well, as their midweek match was postponed due to poor weather. Biokhimik-Mordovia, Salyut Belgorod and Spartak Kurgan are also level with them on 20 points.

With no match now for a week and a half, September would come to a slow and quiet conclusion. Vladimir Iljin returned to full training on the Monday, but the following day we would have another visitor to the physio's room, as on Tuesday, goalkeeper Valery Golovchanov stubbed his finger, and would now be a doubt for the First Leg of the Kubok Rossii tie next week. Later that day, our Reserves would play out yet another draw at Central, a 1-1 tie with Spartak-Traktor Cheboxary. Our debutant full back from the weekend, Abdulla Vilpukarov, played a starring role in this match, with his positioning and composure mentioned in particular. Our goal was scored by young left winger, Alexey Khlynov.

[neilhoskins77]

2015/16 Russian 4.PRSLFK, Group 14 League Table. Up to & Including Thursday 1st October 2015.

| Pos | Inf   | Team                      | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | GD    | Pts   |                        

| 1st |       | Volgodonsk                | 13    | 8     | 4     | 1     | 21    | 11    | 10    | 28    | 
| 2nd |       | Balakovo                  | 13    | 8     | 3     | 2     | 18    | 11    | 7     | 27    | 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
| 3rd |       | Metallurg Magnitogorsk    | 13    | 7     | 5     | 1     | 32    | 17    | 15    | 26    | 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 4th |       | Fabus                     | 13    | 6     | 3     | 4     | 18    | 16    | 2     | 21    |  
| 5th |       | Energia Chaykovskiy       | 12    | 5     | 5     | 2     | 19    | 12    | 7     | 20    |
| 6th |       | Biokhimik-Mordovia        | 13    | 6     | 2     | 5     | 15    | 15    | 0     | 20    |  
| 7th |       | Salyut                    | 13    | 5     | 5     | 3     | 16    | 14    | 2     | 20    |  
| 8th |       | Spartak Kurgan            | 13    | 6     | 2     | 5     | 17    | 16    | 1     | 20    |  
| 9th |       | Krasnoznamensk            | 13    | 5     | 3     | 5     | 19    | 18    | 1     | 18    |  
| 10th|       | Titan Moscow              | 13    | 5     | 3     | 5     | 18    | 16    | 2     | 18    |  
| 11th|       | Slavyansk                 | 13    | 5     | 3     | 5     | 13    | 14    | -1    | 18    |  
| 12th|       | Kuban Barannikovskiy      | 13    | 5     | 2     | 6     | 16    | 16    | 0     | 17    |  
| 13th|       | Sodovik                   | 13    | 4     | 4     | 5     | 13    | 15    | -2    | 16    |  
| 14th|       | Oasis                     | 13    | 3     | 7     | 3     | 22    | 18    | 4     | 16    |  
| 15th|       | Kuban Slavyansk-na-Kubani | 13    | 4     | 4     | 5     | 18    | 19    | -1    | 16    |  
| 16th|       | Velmash Luki              | 13    | 3     | 7     | 3     | 16    | 14    | 2     | 16    |  
| 17th|       | Energetik Uren            | 13    | 3     | 6     | 4     | 13    | 14    | -1    | 15    |  
| 18th|       | Reformatsia               | 13    | 3     | 5     | 5     | 12    | 21    | -9    | 14    |  
| 19th|       | APK Azov                  | 13    | 3     | 4     | 6     | 17    | 21    | -4    | 13    |  
| 20th|       | Spartak Shuya             | 13    | 3     | 3     | 7     | 12    | 22    | -10   | 12    |  
| 21st|       | Irtysh Tobolsk            | 13    | 2     | 6     | 5     | 10    | 15    | -5    | 12    |  
| 22nd|       | Spartak Anapa             | 13    | 2     | 6     | 5     | 6     | 11    | -5    | 12    |  
| 23rd|       | Dinamo Izhevsk            | 12    | 3     | 2     | 7     | 12    | 18    | -6    | 11    |
| 24th|       | Astratex                  | 13    | 2     | 4     | 7     | 10    | 19    | -19   | 10    |

 

[LPQR]

the correct way to translate your title in russian is 'xолодное пустыня футбола и Русская зима'

otherwise, amazing story, kutgw

[edit]

sorry, first word is actually 'холодная', this language has a grammar even the speakers get wrong sometimes

[neilhoskins77]

On ‎23‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 13:56, LPQR said:

the correct way to translate your title in russian is 'xолодное пустыня футбола и Русская зима'

otherwise, amazing story, kutgw

[edit]

sorry, first word is actually 'холодная', this language has a grammar even the speakers get wrong sometimes

Cheers LPQR, I asked Mark to edit the title, but I didn't see your second edit. Glad you're enjoying the story, good to have you along.

[neilhoskins77]

October 2015.

October would be a month of two halves. We wouldn't play until the 7th, and then it would be another week before we would play the Second Leg of that Kubok Rossii tie. We wouldn't actually play a League match until the 17th of the month, and in the two week spell from that date through to the end of the month, we would play four matches in our continued quest to ensure we were part of the promotion race in 4.PRSLFK when we get into the business end of the season. Other than that, it was pretty much business as usual as far as the Board were concerned. They were happy with Alexey Suzov and Kirill Uryupin, and not so happy with Vladislav Aleksin. Plus, they had banked over £4,000 again during the course of the month, so you could see why they were so reluctant to move the club forward into semi professional football.

With no matches for the First Team to focus on right away, the training sessions would focus on attempting to do a better job in defending set pieces, and start the preparations for our Kubok Rossii Fourth Round tie with Zvezdy Dobryanka. Since the draw for the match up had been made, Zvezdy's form had gone severly downhill. They had played three matches in that time, losing 3-0, drawing 1-1 at home, and then being spanked 6-1 away from home on the last Saturday of September. Those results gave us confidence in our camp that we could get a good result against them in the First Leg at Central. Away from our home stadium, the Reserves played out yet another draw, this time a 2-2 result away to Dinamo-Mashinostroitel Kirov. Our man of the man of the match, 16 year old centre midfielder, Narek Romashkin, opened the scoring, but a goal either side of the break left us trailing going into the last few minutes, before Vladislav Aleksin popped up to net the leveller. That match saw centre back Vladimir Lomakin collect a facial injury that will mean him missing a couple of weeks of action.

As the final preparations are made for Wednesday's match, our deputy right back Abdulla Zilpukarov comes to the office to plead his case for more First Team football. Using the exact same tactic that had worked with two of the three strikers who came to see me with the same request, I point out that Pavel Kryukov has been integral to the clubs start to the season, and Zilpukarov makes his pledge to try and be more patient, before leaving the office. The box office report that they believe we could break the clubs attendance record on Wednesday, which obviously they are happy about. Less happy however, is the groundsman, who has to wait to make his final preparations to the playing surface, as the Under-18's are using it just 24 hours before the Cup match. Daniil Oladapo scores twice, and Islam Zarochentsev also finds the net, but the age group side still can't get the win, as they are beaten 5-3 by Gornyak Kushwa.

On that very same day, the press conference is held for our clash with Zvezdy. After the success of fanning the flames earlier in the competition, I'm keen to do so again today, and spot an opportunity to do so when asked if I thought that Zvezdy would be affected by their heavy League defeat on the weekend. 'There's every chance they are going to be a little bit fragile after that, and I intend to make sure we capitalise on that to the fullest extent possible at Central.'.

Wednesday 7th October 2015 - Kubok Rossii Fourth Round, First Leg.
Central, Magnitogorsk.
Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk v Zvezdy Dobryanka.
(4-2-3-1) :- Valery Golovchanov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy, Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin, Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov.
Substitutes :- Abdulla Zilpukarov, Nikita Semenov, Vladislav Philippov, Evgeny Korota, David Arabachyan, Alan Kotsyubinskiy, Vladislav Evseev, Vladislav Aleksin, Alexandr Stepanov.

Dmitry Galyuk has resumed full training after his injury, but the goalkeeper is not required at this point, as Valery Golovchanov has recovered from his stubbed finger and remains as our starter for this match. After serving his suspension, Artur Yamgurzin returns at left back at the expense of Evgeny Korota, who takes his place back on the bench with Marat Shashkov dropping out of the matchday squad. Our regular midfield pairing of Timur Gogolidze and Konstantin Kamenskiy are back together in the centre of the park, while after a run of games, Vladislav Evseev returns to bench duty today, with Alexandr Patokin back in the linuep. Vladimir Iljin is also back in the lineup, the veteran going back into the shadow striker role. On the bench, Alan Kotsyubinskiy is available again, and take his place with the other substitutes.

It was immediately clear from the kick off that Zvezdy were nervous, and the gusty conditions were not helping them. They gave the ball away a lot in the first five minutes, and it wouldn't take long for us to punish their errors. In the 8th minute, Pavel Kryukov took a short throw in and Vladimir Iljin received the ball on the right edge of the box, and peeled away back towards the corner of the box to improve his angle. He then floated a cross to the far post, where Kirill Uryupin was completely unmarked, and powered a header past Konstantin Kuzmenko to open the scoring.

If our opponents were nervous before, they were looking like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights after that, and we nearly made it two quickly, Alexey Suzov pulling out to the left wing, controlling a long ball upfield, and then sliding it inside to Uryupin. After benefitting from a great cross, he then supplied one, his cross field pass cutting out the entire Zvezdy defence, and Alexandr Patokin volleyed it goalwards, Kuzmenko making a superb and crucial save. Respite would be brief for Zvezdy however. Uryupin had two chances to get his second of the day, Kuzmenko blocking the first, and pushing the second behind for a corner. Konstantin Kamenskiy floated the ball into the near post, and Suzov pushed a side footed shot against the base of the post, and then blasted the second effort against the already prone body of the keeper. The ball would fall to Iljin, and his effort was stopped on the line by Evgeny Potapov, but in comical fashion, his attempt to clear ricocheted against Rustam Kusov, and back into the net.

The first half had gone exactly how we would have liked it to, apart from the bookings of Dmitry Yagodinskiy on the half hour, and Suzov just before the interval. It was for that reason that both were removed in a double change that I wouldn't usually make at half time, but felt was required today. Vladislav Philippov and Alexandr Stepanov would come on, giving the striker in particular a rare opportunity to impress. He wouldn't waste too much time in doing so either. Kamenskiy played a delightful long diagonal pass from the centre circle, picking out the run of Patokin on the right. The winger earned himself a yard of room against his marker, and used it to get a cross into the edge of the six yard box, Stepanov arriving with precision timing and striking a half volley that threatened to take the net right off the goal frame with the ferocity of the shot.

Stepanov was delighted to get a goal, and shortly after making my final change in the 77th minute, Alan Kotsyubinskiy coming on for Vladimir Iljin, he had his second of the day to wrap up the scoring. In a move fairly similar to his goal twenty minutes earlier, we played the ball nicely around the edge of the box, but there was a white wall blocking our progress. When Patokin stepped off his wing, the marker went with him, and Pavel Kryukov had plenty of room on the right. Kotsyubinskiy sent the ball out to him, and the cross was low and hard. Stepanov again positioned himself perfectly, and this time sidefooted home from no more than five yards out. Patokin curled an injury time free kick effort well over the bar, but by that time, Zvezdy just wanted to go home. They would do so with a four goal deficit to contemplate.

Metallurg-Metiznik Magnitogorsk (2) 4 Zvezdy Dobryanka (0) 0
Scorers :- Kirill Urypuin (8), Rustam Kusov (16 o.g), Alexandr Stepanov (57,79).
Valery Golovchanov; Pavel Kryukov (capt), Dmitry Yagodinskiy (Vladislav Philippov 45), Artem Zherebin, Artur Yamgurzin; Konstantin Kamenskiy, Timur Gogolidze; Alexandr Patokin, Vladimir Iljin (Alan Kotsyubinskiy 77), Kirill Uryupin; Alexey Suzov (Alexandr Stepanov 45).
Attendance :- 2,005. Man of the Match :- Pavel Kryukov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk).

We were a dozen bodies short of a new club record attendance, but after that First Leg showing, it was looking a good bet that'd we would get another opportunity to break it in Round Five. We had well over 60% of the possession, and had eighteen shots at goal versus the visitors two, and neither of theirs hit the target. With so little to do in defence, Pavel Kryukov had plenty of opportunites to go forward down the right flank, and the Club Captain did a great job linking up with Alexandr Patokin down the sideline, causing problems for Zvezdy all afternoon and thoroughly deserved his man of the match award.

The media waxed lyrical about our prowess in front of goal, pointing out to their readers and listeners that we had netted no less than fifty two times in twenty competitive matches since my appointment, and had won thirteen of those games. The four we hit today would give us a bit of freedom for squad rotation in the Second Leg should we choose to use it. In one case, it wasn't even really having a choice. Dmitry Yagodinskiy's yellow card was his fifth of the season, and activated a one match suspension that would be served next Wednesday. As it works out, that's not going to be a bad game for him to miss you would think.