Marked for Ihnat Pushkutsa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
A fracture rules Ihor Kharatin out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veres will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Veres
Vladyslav Sharai 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Veres
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baton Zabërgja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giorgi Kutsia, and the manager let it.
Market31 May 2027
The name of Baton Zabërgja keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Veres say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout31 May 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nathanael Blair is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
42 days out for Ihor Kharatin after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veres will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout10 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Tempers go at Veres
Vladyslav Sharai 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
A row about effort at Veres
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Baton Zabërgja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Kai Cipot
“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.
The dugout10 May 2027
Vitalii Boiko 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.
Market10 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ihor Kharatin signs something — a contract at Veres or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout10 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Veres. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Match10 May 2027
A season winding down at Veres
Position 11, 27 points, safe from one end and out of reach of the other. The last weeks are about next season now, and the team sheet has started saying so.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yevhen Banada
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Livyi Bereh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout3 May 2027
Illia Kovalenko: 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.” Livyi Bereh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valeriy Bondarenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
Ihnat Pushkutsa 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Livyi Bereh now.
The dugout3 May 2027
Nazarii Vorobchak has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Livyi Bereh 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
Upbeat
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yevhen Banada
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Livyi Bereh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Livyi Bereh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Valeriy Bondarenko 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.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
12 goals on loan for Wendell
26 appearances at Feniks and the goals keep coming. Livyi Bereh are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad26 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 Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Illia Kvasnytsia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Livyi Bereh 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
Market12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Veres
Vladyslav Sharai 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.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
35 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Veres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentyn Horokh 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
The name of Konstantinos Stamoulis keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Veres say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Anton Yevdokymov has written the date down.
Squad12 Apr 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Veres the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Andrii Kozhukhar’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
The knee: Yevhen Banada out for 111 days
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Livyi Bereh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Mar 2027
Livyi Bereh are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 61 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valeriy Bondarenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market15 Mar 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yevhen Banada has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Livyi Bereh.
Squad15 Mar 2027
8 new faces, and Livyi Bereh 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.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
Diego wants to come home
“I did not go to Kryvbas to sit and watch. I want to come back to Livyi Bereh and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Ihnat Pushkutsa 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Vikentiy Voloshyn has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Livyi Bereh 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.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Feb 2027
58 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market15 Feb 2027
Vorskla come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Livyi Bereh did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market15 Feb 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 Livyi Bereh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Ihnat Pushkutsa, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kudrivka is saying, and nobody at Livyi Bereh is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 Feb 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 Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Feb 2027
LNZ paid $370.0K and Livyi Bereh took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Livyi Bereh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidnney 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Veres
Wesley Pomba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Gonçalves
“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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pavlo Shevchuk was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Veres dressing room was either.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match26 Dec 2026
Veres and Rukh cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Rukh came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against LNZ in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market28 Dec 2026
The Wesley Pomba story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wesley Pomba signs something — a contract at Veres or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Livyi Bereh 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Livyi Bereh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valeriy Bondarenko 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 2‑1 win over Chernihiv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Dec 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 Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
At 20 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Nazarii Vorobchak at his very best
Marked 8.61. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Livyi Bereh.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Yevhen Banada
“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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Oleksiy Makarenko on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Chances created: 11. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Veres spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 matches without a win for Veres
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Veres are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Veres
Baton Zabërgja 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Fabrício Yan
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Veres
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Smiian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Livyi Bereh to sit and watch. I want to come back to Veres and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
Valeriy Bondarenko 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.
Squad26 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 Livyi Bereh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Inhulets made Livyi Bereh work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Ihnat Pushkutsa ran the middle of the pitch — 6.54
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.54, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Something was said to Ihnat Pushkutsa and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Podillia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Illia Kvasnytsia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Livyi Bereh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sidnney 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Vorskla, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Serhii Kosovskyi, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Oleksiy Makarenko left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Metalist next, and one man in the Livyi Bereh dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market21 Sep 2026
The name of Dmytro Shastal keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Livyi Bereh say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Livyi Bereh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Livyi Bereh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valeriy Bondarenko 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kudrivka have kept their man, and Livyi Bereh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Oleh Kryvoruchko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Nyva leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Oleksiy Makarenko chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Teimur Khalilov gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Teimur Khalilov has just signed for Livyi Bereh, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Valeriy Bondarenko 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Oleh Kryvoruchko 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Livyi Bereh
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oleksiy Makarenko after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Ihnat Pushkutsa is in the works
Livyi Bereh have made the call to Veres. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Livyi Bereh signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Anton Yevdokymov arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Anton Yevdokymov has, at Veres, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Wesley Pomba 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 Veres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market17 Aug 2026
Veres get their man
The chase for Danylo Sydorenko ended with $64.0K changing hands and UCSA out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Livyi Bereh have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ihnat Pushkutsa. The answer from Veres has not changed — yet.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Baton Zabërgja 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Wesley Pomba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Fabrício Yan
“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 Aug 2026
No place for Baton Zabërgja in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Veres are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.