The Orenburg Courier
Match30 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Orenburg
A 3‑1 win over Mashuk, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Miro takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miro provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Artem Kasimov says Orenburg went back on their word
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Maxim Rudakov stands alone
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Renat Golybin runs at them all day
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alexandre Jesus wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Orenburg know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The step up is real for Andrey Kasadzhikov
At 19 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.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
Orenburg supporters have found a favourite in Miro
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Miro 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Orenburg
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordhy Thompson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
- The dugout Alexandre Jesus asks for a word with the manager
- The dugout Vladislav Tolstoy on the point
- The dugout Orenburg keep their word to Alexey Tataev