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. 7.81, and 2 involvements.
Mikita Shikavka 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gomel have kept their man, and Lokomotiv Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Uladzislau Balanovich. 2‑1 against Uni-X Labs, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Lokomotiv Gomel have made the call to Neman. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Torpedo-BelAZ keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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. 7.80, and 2 involvements.
He is 20 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.
The deal with Torpedo-BelAZ 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Radomir Yarygin and Lokomotiv Gomel agree another 3 years.
Pavel Shikavka 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gomel have kept their man, and Lokomotiv Gomel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Uladzislau Balanovich 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Radomir Yarygin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutValery Skavysh dropped after a run of poor form
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Gomel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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.
Slavia Mozyr have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 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.” Mikita Martynovich, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Radomir Yarygin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.