Marked for Ilja Zubenko
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Oct 2028
Rostov 2 make home a hard place to visit
24 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match21 Oct 2028
Astrakhan will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Rostov 2 were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad23 Oct 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match21 Oct 2028
Nobody wants to play Rostov 2 right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Marked 8.98 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The terraces23 Oct 2028
At 23 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.
Squad23 Oct 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Kirill Cheburakov 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Diego López Rivadeneira 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad16 Oct 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Oct 2028
Legion made Rostov 2 work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Cheburakov 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 ratings16 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Oct 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Rostov 2's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Rostov 2 has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Oct 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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kirill Cheburakov 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Maxim Radchenko named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Maxim Radchenko 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
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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Rostov 2
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Alexandr Tarasov 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.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Ilja Zubenko turns it into his own net
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Rostov 2 deserved better, and so did he.
Squad18 Sep 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match16 Sep 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Druzhba leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad18 Sep 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.
Market18 Sep 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Eyad El Askalany’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 10. 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
Squad10 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Timur Aduev and Rostov 2 agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Kasparyan 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Ilja Zubenko
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A brace, and Anton Shamonin takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anton Shamonin provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rostov 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match25 Sep 2027
Whatever happens, Rostov 2 do not lose
7 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match25 Sep 2027
A 2‑1 win over Spartak Nalchik, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces27 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rustam Asenchukov 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Murad Alimov 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Derek Dodson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ilja Zubenko is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maxim Radchenko and Rostov 2 agree another 5 years.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Kasparyan 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
Upbeat
Squad24 May 2027
David Semenchuk 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.
Squad24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Semenchuk, and the manager let it.
Squad24 May 2027
Daniil Gorovykh asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 Mar 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.
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 Rostov 2 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Rostov 2 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Kasparyan 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
Upbeat
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rostov 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Vladimir Kasparyan 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Semenchuk, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rostov 2 may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Eyad El Askalany 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ilja Zubenko commits to Rostov 2 for another 3 years.