Shakhtar pressed Epicenter in the second half

In the continuation of mediaday part of the confrontations of the second round of the Ukrainian Premier League, for the first time this season we encountered a pair of teams that had previously won their matches. So, together with the starting whistle, Kamianets-Podilbroadcasteri Epicenter and Donetsk Shakhtar synchronously rose to the top of the tournament table, although Serhiy Nagornyak's team already had a reason for great pride, because they managed to bring the first really powerful opponent to their hometown at the renovated stadium. Of course, the team of Arda Turan was indifferent to all these solemn moments for the opponents and the "miners" were only interested in the final result of the game before a very difficult stage of the season. That is why the guests began to attack from the first minutes, but the "Podolyans" managed to restrain their opponents with a dense block in most cases. But Shakhtar did not remain without scoring opportunities until the break. As without the first serious problems in this game. As early as the 12th minute, Pedrinho da Silva had to be replaced due to muscle damage, which was a really big loss in creativity for the guests. Although they managed to create a great moment for Alisson before that, who from Pedrinho Azevedo's pass from the left wing of the free kick into touch with a ricochet from the defender did not hit the near corner. For most of the playing time in the first half, Epicenter fought back, but in the 20th minute, they made everyone present grab their heads with their own attack. It was Sifuentes who broke through to the left flank of the free kick past a group of opponents, then rolled to the near side for Sidun, who shot the goal, but Riznyk miraculously managed to press the ball to the lawn with his feet under him. At the end of the first half, Shakhtar found another weak point in the opponents' defense in the form of a set-piece game, and at least twice Gram was lost by the defenders during Nazarina's crosses, but the Tunisian's headers in the fall somehow did not go well: the first attempt was saved by the goalkeeper, and during the second Shakhtar player himself scored badly. With a significant advantage according to statistics, the Donetsk team went to the break, but returned from it with a goal actually scored. Ocheretko ran away from all the defenders in the 49th minute to Mendoza's pass from the left wing, and last season's top assist in the UPL thus completed his first goal assist of the new campaign. The goal left Turan's side generally very comfortable for the rest of the game and Epicenter really did not create much in response. We remember Yevpak's header under the crossbar at the end of a corner in the 73rd minute, which Riznyk took away, as well as the moment when the Shakhtar goalkeeper himself kicked outside the penalty area during the game and with a risk in the tackle against Sydun, then eliminated the threat to his own goal. But all this happened already when Shakhtar scored the second goal. It happened in the 77th minute, when the defenders initially blocked a cross from Neverton from the left flank, but then lost the fight for the rebound in front of their own possession, which Nazarina took advantage of and skillfully placed a shot under the right post. So the concert in this game was organized only by local stands and, surprisingly for many, Ukrainians as part of the Turan team. In the next round, Kamianets-Podilbroadcasteri Epicenter will host Rivne Veres, while Shakhtar Donetsk will visit Kharkiv. Epicenter — Shakhtar 0:2 Goals: Ocheretko, 49, Nazarina, 77 Epicenter: Fedotov — Repai, Tavares (Yevpak, 73), Kosh — Kyryukhantsev, Nene (Seberio, 46), Myroniuk (A. Kozak, 87), Klymets — K. U. Rojas, Sydun, Sifuentes. Shakhtar: Riznyk — Vinicius, Gram, Matvienko, Pedrinho Azevedo — Pedrinho da Silva (Nazarina, 12), Ocheretko, Bondarenko (Izaki, 67) — Alisson (Lucas, 80), Traore (Elias, 80), Mendoza (Neverton, 67). Warning: Myronyuk, Kyryukhantsev — Alisson