Marked for Artem Davidovich
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammed Dayyabu
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Isloch lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Alexandr Karnitskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
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Squad
Tempers go at Isloch
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Boardroom
The Isloch commercial book is shrinking
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 54. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Sep 2028
The wait goes on for Isloch
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match16 Sep 2028
Isloch cannot find the net
11 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match18 Sep 2028
Isloch sink to position 13
24 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A move Alexander Reid would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alexander Reid is living that version at Isloch, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Andrey Emeljanov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Isloch have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad18 Sep 2028
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad18 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Sep 2028
Alexander Reid is 18, and Isloch have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match10 Jun 2028
Chastening afternoon for Isloch
A 0‑3 beating by Torpedo-BelAZ was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Alexandr Karnitskiy falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Svirepa, and the manager let it.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Feb 2028
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Andrey Makarenko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Isloch will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Feb 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Isloch can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Isloch they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Tempers go at Isloch
Evgeniy Yudchits was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Isloch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Karnitskiy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad31 Jan 2028
5 new faces, and Isloch are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad17 Jan 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad17 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Isloch
Evgeniy Yudchits was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Jan 2028
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Isloch have had the benefit of it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Isloch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alberto Benítez Villalba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad27 Dec 2027
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Isloch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Karnitskiy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market29 Nov 2027
24 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Isloch now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Isloch will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jhon Chacón and Isloch agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Tempers go at Isloch
Bogdan Tsybrov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 57. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match4 Sep 2027
14 matches without a win for Isloch
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Isloch are no longer polite ones.
Match4 Sep 2027
Isloch cannot find the net
11 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Isloch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Karnitskiy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Alexandr Svirepa
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alexandr Svirepa has come out of that comparison in the side, and Isloch have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Market6 Sep 2027
Vitebsk are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Isloch will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market6 Sep 2027
The loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at Isloch no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Match4 Sep 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Minsk defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 72. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
No sign of nerves from Nikita Yakimovich at 21 — 7.77
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikita Yakimovich did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad16 Aug 2027
38 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Artem Kilyimanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Ostrovets now.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Perepechko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 71. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Isloch
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match7 Aug 2027
Isloch cannot find the net
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Jhon Chacón falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Isloch
Anton Shramchenko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrey Klimovich and Isloch agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Patsko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market9 Aug 2027
Vitebsk are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Isloch will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match7 Aug 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Torpedo-BelAZ defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match10 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Isloch's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Isloch has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Jhon Chacón falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Patsko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Isloch lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
No sign of nerves from Daniil Kulikov at 20 — 8.04
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Daniil Kulikov did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market12 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Daniil Kulikov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match10 Jul 2027
A 2‑0 win over Orsha, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
132% of the income goes out in wages at Ostrovets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Artem Davidovich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Isloch will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Jun 2027
14 unbeaten for Isloch
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Isloch did not have in the autumn.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Isloch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Isloch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Svirepa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ivan Khovalko and Isloch agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ostrovets
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Artem Kilyimanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match5 Jun 2027
Baranovichi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gleb Krivtsov, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Perepechko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 62. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Isloch will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match15 May 2027
Whatever happens, Isloch do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market17 May 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Isloch, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Isloch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oliver Kamdem is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Isloch
Bogdan Tsybrov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.61 on the card, and the Isloch support went home talking about one name.
Squad17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Patsko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match15 May 2027
Point won or two lost for Isloch?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Niva? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ostrovets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad17 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The terraces17 May 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad17 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom17 May 2027
132% of the income goes out in wages at Ostrovets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Artem Davidovich was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 May 2027
A 2-goal lead gone for Ostrovets
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Dnepr Mogilev kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ostrovets will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad10 May 2027
Artem Kilyimanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Nikita Sednev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Marked 6.76 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artem Perepechko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Nikita Yakimovich at 21 — 7.90
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nikita Yakimovich did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market3 May 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces3 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniil Kulikov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match1 May 2027
Uni-X Labs made Ostrovets work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings3 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Shashko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad3 May 2027
Nikita Sednev named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nikita Sednev is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market12 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 1‑0 win over Orsha, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Egor Shashko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Egor Shashko gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Mar 2027
The small margins put Ostrovets out
Out, 0‑3 to Isloch, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market5 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ostrovets, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Daniil Tsyk at 21 — 8.41
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Daniil Tsyk did not need any: 8.41, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
Ostrovets are taken apart by Isloch — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Artem Kilyimanov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kirill Goncharik has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match3 Apr 2027
Slonim made Ostrovets work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Market5 Apr 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Artem Kilyimanov has his answer from Ostrovets; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match27 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Ostrovets
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ostrovets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Mar 2027
Bumprom Gomel left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Ostrovets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matvey Papulin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Perepechko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The numbers do not look good at Ostrovets
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market29 Mar 2027
Ostrovets have made German Zhernosek available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 5. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.