Got out with honour

- I want to say thank you to the fans who came to support us in this weather. Until the end of the clash, there was tension. I'm grateful to my players for giving us these emotions, game and tension. I think that today both teams have demonstrated a good football. Unfortunately, after conceding a goal, we failed inside the following three minutes, so we went into the break by the score of 1-3. This cannot please. If we went in level, it would be a completely different game in the second half. We had a plan for the match: to engage Shakhtar in open football without the midfield, so that the opponents’ set-play attacking moves stumbled upon this idea of passing the midfield quickly. The Miners kept in mind the clash with Manchester City, which is understandable. The last thing they wanted is to apply a lot of their energies. However, I think we made them move. We had a chance by the score of 2-3, there was a battle. As luck would have it, we could steal points from them. I see the good offensive potential of ours. I think that today we have not implemented it in full, even though we secured two goals. Defence? Here we have objective problems. Defenders Kovalyov and Fateev, who trained during the pre-season spell, are injured. The same applies to Oganesyan. Kacharaba missed the encounter for the reasons beyond the head coach’s control, although the arrangements were different, with me having questions on this point. Unfortunately, Shakhtar banned him from coming onto the pitch today. We have Sese and the young Matkobozhyk in the squad. Tsyupa and Chychykov did not play in their positions, with Drachenko disqualified due to exceeding the limit of yellow cards. The losses are huge. And I'm grateful to the guys for the fact that we got out of this situation with honour. However, I repeat: one thing is to please with the game somehow, and the other is pleasing with the result. Now we will get ready for the next match even better than for this one. We’re going to earn points.