The Poltava Herald
Squad2 Aug 2027
Viktor Korniienko 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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
6 academy players handed senior numbers at Poltava
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Poltava training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dmytro Plakhtyr 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
One of our own: Oleh Pikhalyonok joins the Poltava first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Oleh Pikhalyonok is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market2 Aug 2027
One of our own: Ivan Pikhalyonok joins the Poltava first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ivan Pikhalyonok is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market2 Aug 2027
Poltava promote Roman Marlos from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Roman Marlos has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market2 Aug 2027
Ruslan Makarenko steps up from the Poltava academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ruslan Makarenko has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Nobody could get near Tomás Sives
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Maksym Marusych gets it from the manager
“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.
In brief
- Match Point won or two lost for Poltava?
- Squad Daniil Yermolov knocks on the manager’s door
- Boardroom Poltava spend where nobody can see it