Marked for Cody David
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Inhulets
Something was said to Cody David and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oleh Manastyrnyi, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
A test against the best for Inhulets
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Nyva.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Inhulets, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
13 appearances at Feniks and the goals keep coming. Inhulets are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Inhulets will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market16 Nov 2026
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Inhulets could get for him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Danylo Tuzenko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danylo Tuzenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Vitalii Dubilei 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.82 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Inhulets had the best player on the pitch.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Inhulets will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yevhen Yanovich, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 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.” Artem Sirenko chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Hennadii Pasich out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason LNZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match7 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten LNZ
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at LNZ
Oleksandr Drambaiev 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Denys Kuzyk is still paying for one afternoon at LNZ
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Match7 Nov 2026
LNZ share the spoils with Zorya
A 1‑1 draw with Zorya leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout9 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A mark of 4.80 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Oct 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for Inhulets
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Feniks kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Inhulets will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Cody David takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cody David provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.74, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
125% of the income goes out in wages at Inhulets
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Inhulets
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Yevtushenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Nov 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Cody David named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Cody David is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Vitalii Diachenko 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Inhulets 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Artem Sirenko to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Inhulets
Something was said to Alisson Oliveira Da Silva and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Nobody at Inhulets is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Feniks in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Inhulets
Vitalii Diachenko 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
At 18 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for Inhulets, 2‑0 the final word against Prykarpattia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.68 on the card, and the Inhulets support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Artem Sirenko, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Inhulets have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Hennadii Pasich out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason LNZ will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at LNZ
Shota Nonikashvili 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at LNZ, another week without a signature from Adam Yakubu.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I want to play”: Adam Yakubu speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Kolos next, and one man in the LNZ dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. LNZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at LNZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at LNZ. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
3 appearances at Inhulets and the goals keep coming. LNZ are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Both of them Cody David's — 8.01
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.01, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniil Myronchuk is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Inhulets
Vitalii Dubilei 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Fabian Sowiecki gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Fabian Sowiecki has just signed for Inhulets, and for once the answer mattered.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Podillia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 162% of everything Inhulets earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Cody David has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Inhulets will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Market5 Oct 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Inhulets signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout5 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.” Artem Sirenko kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Yevhen Yanovich at 21 — 7.66
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yevhen Yanovich did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Andrii Melenchuk delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Andrii Melenchuk scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market14 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Danylo Tuzenko
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danylo Tuzenko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inhulets the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Inhulets close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The deal with LNZ is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Bohdan Mohylnyi scored one and made one — 7.95
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.95, and 2 involvements.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 3‑2 win over Metalurh Zaporizhzhia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets14 Sep 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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.