Marked for Andrei Palitsevich
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Jun 2031
Orsha sink to position 13
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match21 Jun 2031
No mercy from Orsha
Smorgon will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Orsha were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings23 Jun 2031
No sign of nerves from Ihar Hryshyn at 18 — 7.98
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ihar Hryshyn did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
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.
The terraces23 Jun 2031
At 19 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.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
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Market23 Jun 2031
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Orsha will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Appearance number 100 for Ihar Hryshyn
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
The manager makes an example of Yauhen Dragun
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 May 2031
The wait goes on for Orsha
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 May 2031
12 saves: Ivan Sanko was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match26 May 2031
Orsha sink to position 13
1 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match24 May 2031
Orsha cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The dugout26 May 2031
“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.
Match24 May 2031
A bad afternoon for Orsha against Ostrovets
0‑1 to Ostrovets, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 May 2031
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Squad26 May 2031
A row about effort at Orsha
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yauhen Dragun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 May 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ihar Kavalyou after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Apr 2031
10 matches without a win for Orsha
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Orsha are no longer polite ones.
Match28 Apr 2031
Orsha are in real trouble now
Position 13, 1 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match26 Apr 2031
Nowhere to hide for Orsha
0‑3 against Neman, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match26 Apr 2031
No clean sheets in sight for Orsha
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Sanko, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
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Squad28 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Orsha
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yauhen Dragun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom28 Apr 2031
Doors closed at Orsha
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
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 0‑3 Ihar Kavalyou left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Jun 2030
It had gone 24 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The terraces10 Jun 2030
Anger at Orsha 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 ratings10 Jun 2030
No sign of nerves from Ihar Stasevich at 16 — 8.25
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ihar Stasevich did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market10 Jun 2030
“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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
A row about effort at Orsha
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Chernyavskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces10 Jun 2030
Orsha supporters have found a favourite in Ihar Hryshyn
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Ihar Hryshyn 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.
Match8 Jun 2030
Osipovichi made Orsha work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom10 Jun 2030
The borrowing at Orsha reaches $6.7M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $6.7M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Squad10 Jun 2030
A falling-out at Orsha
Mikita Rios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Jun 2030
The wait goes on for Orsha
24 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match1 Jun 2030
Chastening afternoon for Orsha
A 1‑4 beating by Slonim was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
Vitaliy Malevich: 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.” Orsha have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Jun 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pavel Bordukov commits to Orsha for another 2 years.
Squad3 Jun 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
$94.9K from the owner keeps Orsha afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Match3 Jun 2030
Halfway: Orsha sit in position 13
0 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Boardroom3 Jun 2030
Doors closed at Orsha
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
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 1‑4 Ihar Kavalyou left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 May 2030
The wait goes on for Orsha
23 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad27 May 2030
A row about effort at Orsha
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniil Chernyavskiy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match25 May 2030
0‑1 to Bumprom Gomel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout27 May 2030
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 Ihar Kavalyou left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad27 May 2030
A falling-out at Orsha
Ihar Hryshyn and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 May 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniil Chernyavskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Looking ahead27 May 2030
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Taysir Adamchik’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Orsha needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market27 May 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniil Chernyavskiy signs something — a contract at Orsha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces13 May 2030
The mood at Orsha has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad13 May 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Vitaliy Malevich commits to Orsha for another 3 years.
Squad13 May 2030
Tempers go at Orsha
Daniil Chernyavskiy 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.
Boardroom13 May 2030
The Orsha debt reaches $6.5M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout13 May 2030
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 dugout13 May 2030
Egor Arlouski knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Egor Arlouski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market13 May 2030
Orsha have let the market know Daniil Chernyavskiy can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout13 May 2030
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Orsha. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Looking ahead13 May 2030
An away day at Niva next for Orsha
They sit in position 10 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market10 Dec 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexandr Ryzhchenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orsha the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad10 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orsha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Ryzhchenko, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Andrei Palitsevich 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 dugout10 Dec 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Orsha, and both men came out saying it was fine.