Marked for Dmytro Panchenko
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Inhulets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Jan 2027
15 goals and a season average of 7.40. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Inhulets
Vladyslav Vakula and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Yurii Borys has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Inhulets have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
26 appearances at Feniks and the goals keep coming. Inhulets are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Denys Bezus after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Inhulets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stanislav Ursolov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Danylo Tuzenko
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Inhulets lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match17 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Illia Hadzhuk delivers — 7.94
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Illia Hadzhuk scored, was marked 7.94, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dmytro Panchenko is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Vladyslav Vakula at his very best
Marked 9.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Inhulets.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Bohdan Mohylnyi
10 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Denys Bezus kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Inhulets lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Vladyslav Vakula 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Denys Bezus after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Artem Somka 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Benediuk, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Oleh Manastyrnyi dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.