The Poltava Herald
Match5 Feb 2028
Whatever happens, Poltava do not lose
24 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Nikita Krokhmal damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Nobody could get near Yan Kostenko
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Feb 2028
The run at home goes on for Poltava
17 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Artem Shabanov stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Shabanov and Poltava agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Valerii Voskonyan 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 Poltava this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Artem Shabanov 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
Poltava sign Lois Vanaken, one for the future
Lois Vanaken is 17, and Poltava have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Match5 Feb 2028
No goals between Poltava and Victoriia Sumy
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Victoriia Sumy will be the happier side with the point.
In brief
- Market Mykyta Kononov leaves for nothing
- Market Oleksandr Vivdych leaves for nothing
- Market Illia Zhadan leaves for nothing