Marked for Cody David
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Ihor Potimkov: 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.” Inhulets have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Looking ahead18 Jan 2027
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 Chornomorets.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Cody David leaves them behind him
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inhulets can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Inhulets may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Yevhen Yanovich is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Cody David
16 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad11 Jan 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 Inhulets this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Alisson Oliveira Da Silva 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Cody David at his very best
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Inhulets.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market11 Jan 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 LNZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match9 Jan 2027
7 unbeaten for LNZ
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation LNZ did not have in the autumn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at LNZ
Denys Kuzyk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
The goals keep arriving from Cody David’s exile
16 goals in 15 games at Inhulets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at LNZ updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at LNZ
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oleksandr Drambaiev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Roman Didyk 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at LNZ can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Maksym Skorokhod is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitalii Diachenko, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artem Benediuk and Inhulets agree another 3 years.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Yevtushenko 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Inhulets rescue it on 87 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 87. UCSA had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Match2 Jan 2027
It needed Cody David to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against UCSA, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Artem Sirenko was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Inhulets dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Jan 2027
LNZ up to position 2
43 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The season belongs to Tedi Cara
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and LNZ have had the benefit of it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Tedi Cara
16 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match2 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten LNZ
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
The goals keep arriving from Cody David’s exile
15 goals in 14 games at Inhulets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at LNZ updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Oleksandr Drambaiev 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
The run at home goes on for LNZ
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
In brief
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Match
After 5 games, LNZ finally taste it again
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Looking ahead
Top-of-the-table clash for LNZ
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Match
LNZ caught on 92 minutes
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Illia Karavashchenko, and the manager let it.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 121% of the Inhulets income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Artem Sirenko after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Cody David named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Cody David has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Dec 2026
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Tedi Cara, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match26 Dec 2026
LNZ cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at LNZ
Oleksandr Drambaiev 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A masterclass from Tedi Cara
Marked 9.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
The goals keep arriving from Cody David’s exile
13 goals in 13 games at Inhulets — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at LNZ updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at LNZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shota Nonikashvili 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Denys Kuzyk at his very best
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at LNZ.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Adam Yakubu
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Adam Yakubu
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The dugout
Roman Didyk asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Cody David, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Inhulets do not lose
7 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 9.52 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match19 Dec 2026
Vorskla made Inhulets work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad21 Dec 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.
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.” Artem Sirenko on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Inhulets man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Cody David was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Yehor Kniazev
“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
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play LNZ right now
4 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
Talles Brener has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around LNZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match19 Dec 2026
Three points for LNZ, 1‑0 the final word against Kudrivka in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at LNZ
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shota Nonikashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch21 Dec 2026
12 goals on loan for Cody David
12 appearances at Inhulets and the goals keep coming. LNZ are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Oleh Horin 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at LNZ
Andrii Buleza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Tedi Cara
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. LNZ had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Victoriia Sumy, and it could have been more.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad30 Nov 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Illia Hadzhuk delivers — 7.84
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Illia Hadzhuk scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad30 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 125% 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Inhulets training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oleksandr Yevtushenko 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.
Match30 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Inhulets
Position 9, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout30 Nov 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 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Kryvbas, and it could have been more.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Tedi Cara scores twice — 8.84
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market30 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at LNZ is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at LNZ
Shota Nonikashvili 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 terraces30 Nov 2026
At 23 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Adam Yakubu 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.
Match30 Nov 2026
LNZ at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 4, 30 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at LNZ can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Loan watch
9 goals on loan for Cody David
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Squad
Words at LNZ training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Inhulets
4 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Inhulets
Vitalii Dubilei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Nazar Prykhodko at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Inhulets.
Squad23 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A goal on 91 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match21 Nov 2026
Inhulets and Nyva take a point apiece
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Inhulets are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout23 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 dugout23 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 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
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.