The Metalist Chronicle
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Vladyslav Borysenkov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Metalist have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The step up is real for Sebastián Castillo
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Metalist
Heorhii Yermakov 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 terraces4 Jan 2027
One of their own: Oleh Ocheretko
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match2 Jan 2027
Oleh Ocheretko the difference as Metalist beat Veres
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oleh Ocheretko. 1‑0 against Veres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Oleh Ocheretko at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Metalist.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Yehor Potapenko out for 25 days
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Yehor Potapenko, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Wages eat 99% of everything Metalist earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Yevhen Pavliuk
“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.
In brief
- The dugout The view from the dugout
- The dugout When it matters, Oleh Ocheretko plays
- Loan watch The goals keep arriving from Kristian Mba’s exile