October 3, 2024
A return to Belarus football…………..
These diaries produced weekly updates of the Belarus Premier League ( BPL ) during the Covid years of 2020 and 2021, when Belarus was initially the only European league to carry on playing during the pandemic in 2020. However, the support of Lukaschenko’s regime of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 made it inappropriate to continue covering the league. However, a European tie against a team from Scotland has led to a temporary change of heart ( if you can forgive the pun ! )
Dinamo Minsk Background
In 2020, a talented Dinamo side could only finish sixth in the BPL but just 7 points behind champions Shakhtyor Soligorsk. They were a frustrating side to watch as they always seemed to be playing with the handbrake on, and only scored 38 goals in the season despite the presence of Ivan Bakhar, Vladislav Klimovich, Yevgeniy Shikavka and Andriy Batsula in their attack.
Despite adding to their attacking options in 2021 with the recruitment of Ivorian winger Jean Morel Poe and Senegalese striker Abelaye Mbengue, and the emergence of young talents Vladislav Lozhkin and Roman Davyskiba, Dinamo improved and scored 55 goals but could only finish third, 13 points behind Shakhtyor.
Dinamo could only manage 4th place in 2022 but finally won the title in 2023, their 8th in total but their first since 2003. However, the BPL had been severely weakened by the economic sanctions imposed on the country in the wake of Lukaschenko’s support for the invasion of Ukraine. Most clubs could no longer afford to sign decent overseas players, nearly all of the top Belarus internationals moved to play abroad and some retired ( or were retired by the regime for not toeing the correct political line ). Perennial title challengers BATE Borisov suffered significant financial hardship and were no longer the force they were, and Shahktyor were penalised with a 32-point deduction for their involvement in a match fixing scandal, so lost most of their senior players and spent the season fighting against relegation.
Dinamo Minsk Season So Far
The BPL is a summer league and Dinamo look to be in a good position to retain their title, currently sitting in second place, three points behind Neman Grodno but with three games in hand, and with 10 matches still to be played. They had lost only once in 20 matches, a 0-1 reverse at Vitebsk, and had conceded only nine goals. Nigerian midfielder Raymond Adeola was their top league scorer with just five goals, followed by Pavel Sedko with four.
However, they still have to visit Neman and fourth placed Dinamo Brest and have to fit in four Europa Conference League matches before the end of their league campaign.
As the Belarus Champions, Dinamo entered the First Qualifying Round of the Champions League but with the handicap of having to play their home games outside of Belarus and behind closed doors.
After a 0-0 “home” draw played in Hungary, a last-minute penalty from Alexsei Gavrilovich in the return saw Dinamo edge out Armenian champions Pyunik. In the next round Dinamo lost 0-2 in Bulgaria to Ludogorets, and although Bakhar scored in the second leg, again in Mezokovesd in Hungary, Dinamo were unable to overturn the deficit.
Dropping down to the Europa League Dinamo predictably overcame Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar 2-0 in Mezokovesd thanks to goals from Gavrilovich and Brazilian Pedro Igor. In the return Dinamo were nearly embarrassed though, losing 1-2, but a goal from Nigerian striker Steven Alfred saw them through 3-2 on aggregate.
Dinamo gave two spirited performances in the play-off round against Anderlecht, losing both games 0-1 but dropped down to the Europa Conference League as a result.
Dinamo Minsk Squad
Star midfielders Pavel Sedko ( 11 caps and ex-Rukh Brest, Torpedo Moscow and Gomel ) and Bakhar ( 30 caps ) were missing through injury tonight. However, there were still a number of familiar names who played for other Belarus sides in 2020 & 2021 in their squad for today.
Steven Alfred had made a favourable impression when playing for Slutsk and after spells with two Israeli sides had returned to Belarus. Centre-back and captain Sergey Politevich ( 45 caps ) had been with Shakhtyor as had forward Dmitriy Podstrelov ( 14 caps ), and defenders Alexandr Sachivko ( 21 caps ), Roman Begunov ( 9 caps ) and Alexsandr Selyava ( 12 caps ).
Full back Vadim Piga was with Isloch, midfielder Gleb Zherdov was with Slavia Mozyr, Uladzimir Khvashchinskiy was with FK Minsk, Nikita Demchenko had a loan spell with Smolevichi and Alexsei Gavrilovich was briefly with Neman Grodno.
The new overseas players in the current squad in addition to Alfred and Adeola were Brazilians left-back Rai Lopes and winger Pedro Igor, Ivorian midfielder Boni Amian and Russian midfielders Daniil Kulikov and Igor Shkolik.
Youth products coming through include keeper Fyodor Lapoukhov ( 3 caps ), 18 year old midfielder Trofim Melnichenko ( 1 cap ) and defensive midfielder Vladislav Kalinin
Heart Of Midlothian
Hearts are one of Scotland’s traditional clubs, having won the Scottish title four times, although the last triumph was back in 1959/60. They came agonizingly close to winning the league in 1985/86 when after an unbeaten run of 27 games they only needed a draw in their last game at Dundee to take the title. Unfortunately, they conceded a scrappy goal from a corner with 7 minutes to play and conceded another as they chased the game, which allowed Celtic to snatch the title.
Hearts have won the Scottish Cup on eight occasions, the last of which was in 2011/12.
Home is the 19,852 capacity Tynecastle in Edinburgh and their side is affectionally referred to as the Jam Tarts or The Jambos.
Hearts went into today’s game bottom of the Scottish Premiership with a 0-2-5 record. They had actually started the season encouragingly with a 0-0 home draw with Rangers, but then lost eight consecutive matches in all competitions, leading to manager Steven Naismith ( 51 caps and ex-Rangers, Kilmarnock, Everton and Norwich as a player ) being sacked.
The League defeats came at the hands of Dundee ( A 1-3 ), Motherwell ( A 1-3 ), Dundee United ( H 0-1 ), Celtic ( A 0-2 ) and St Mirren ( A 1-2 ). A shock exit in the League Cup came at Championship side Falkirk ( A 0-2 ), whilst in the Europa League both ties against Czech side Plzen were lost 0-1. The second leg was played at home in a strangely subdued atmosphere as Hearts squandered several good chances before falling to a sucker punch counterattack midway through the second half.
B-team coach Liam Fox was appointed interim manager and managed to stop the rot in his first game, although it needed a 96th minute equaliser from Lawrence Shankland to salvage a 1-1 draw at home to Ross County.
In 10 competitive matches this season, the Jam Tarts had scored a mere four times, with four different scorers. With this and Dinamo’s record of just 11 goals scored in their eight games in European competition it hardly suggested a goal-fest tonight !
Last season Hearts had finished in 3rd place in the SPFL, 12 points ahead of Kilmarnock to comfortably win the “best of the rest” award. Ex-Ayr, Dundee United and Beerschot forward Shankland ( 15 caps ) scored 24 goals in the league and 31 in all competitions to propel Hearts to 3rd place. The next highest goalscorer was Costa Rican Kenneth Vargas with six goals.
Hearts Squad
Aside from Shankland, the Hearts squad contained a number of other internationals. 41 year old keeper Craig Gordon won 75 caps and previously played for Celtic and Sunderland and there were two Australians, ex-Central Coast Mariner centre-back Kye Rowles ( 23 caps ) and midfielder Cameron Devlin ( 4 caps and ex-Wellington Phoenix )
Other foreign internationals included ex-Herediano Costa Rican forward Vargas ( 6 caps ), Northern Ireland midfielder Liam Boyce ( 28 caps and ex-Ross County, Burton Albion and Cliftonville ) and Colombian forward Andres Salazar ( 1 cap ).
Defender Stephen Kingsley had won 2 caps for Scotland and previously played for Swansea City and Hull City. Attacking midfielder Barrie McKay was previously with Rangers, Nottingham Forest, Swansea and Fleetwood whilst the St John’s Ambulancemen were on alert for passes from ex-Dundee United, Partick Thistle, Ayr United and Motherwell midfielder Blair Spittal.
Matchday Information
Because of the UEFA restrictions on Belarus sides, today’s game was being played in Azerbaijan in the newly constructed Mehdi Huseynzade Sumgait City Stadium, which has a 15,000 capacity but would be empty tonight.
Although Dinamo had played their earlier home games in Hungary, the group stages in the Europa Conference League require a category four stadium, hence the switch to Azerbaijan.
The flight time from Edinburgh to Baku is around 6 hours, and then Sumgayit is a further 75 minute drive away. The flight from Minsk to Baku is a shade under 4 hours.
In the UEFA coefficients, Belarus were in 52nd place, whilst Scotland were 17th.
The weather at the 20.45 local time ( 17.45 UK time ) was dry and 19 degrees.
The match was being shown live on TNT Sports for those who had a subscription in the UK.
Match Report
After a quiet start to the match, Hearts young full-back Adam Forrester clattered into Rai Lopes leaving the Brazilian in a heap on the floor although the Swedish referee gave no foul. The nature of the commentary from TNT Sports was immediately established with the co-commentator stating he thought the referee had got the decision absolutely correct, although he then admitted it would have been a yellow card back home !
The opening stages were tepid, no doubt in part due to the lack of atmosphere with there being no crowd allowed in the stadium, and Forrester, McKay and Shankland sent long range efforts harmlessly over the bar for the visitors.
After the quiet start, it was a bit of a surprise when the opening goal of the game arrived in the 20th minute. Zherdov managed to release Rai Lopes to the left-hand byline and the cut-back was played to Alfred who swept the ball left footed across the goal from 6 yards into the far corner. 1-0 with 20 minutes played.
Shortly after Hearts fashioned a near identical move but on their right side of the pitch, with Spittal getting to the by-line but his pull-back was intercepted by Kalinin before it could reach Shankland.
Soon after, Dinamo had a 4 on 2 counterattack, but Podstrelov failed to see his two teammates free on the left hand side and the opportunity was squandered.
Rai Lopes was unable to continue after his earlier battering from Forrester and had to be replaced after 29 minutes.
The first corner of the game was won by Hearts in the 30th minute but Alfred was able to head clear. Spittal was able to retrieve the ball, and his cross along the 6-yard line was put out for another corner. A short corner was played to Penrice, who’s cross was punched away by Lapoukhov for yet another corner.
Hearts were now dominating but without looking dangerous, and a cross from Forrester hit Sachivko and went off for another corner. This time the delivery from Penrice was more effective and the unsighted Politevich could only glance a header across goal into the far corner for an own goal. It would have been a great finish at the other end, but unfortunately for Dinamo it was now 1-1 after 37 minutes.
It was perhaps apt giving Hearts’ scoring problems that their equaliser came from an own goal. Hearts were now buoyed and Lapoukhov was unable to prevent a deflected shot from McKay going off for a corner. Dinamo though defended better this time, cleared the danger and set Pigas free in a good position down the right-hand channel but his low ball was cut-out by Kent. The last action of the first period saw a Dinamo free-kick flash across the Hearts 6-yard box but ahead of the attackers, and Kalinin was unable to keep it in play.
The sides headed to the dressing rooms with the scores level, which was probably a fair reflection of the balance of play, although quite frankly it hadn’t been a good half, with perhaps the lack of a crowd contributed to a lack of energy and spirit in the opening 45 minutes.
Dinamo made a second substitution at the break, with Pedro Igor, their mix of Brighton’s two Brazilians entering the fray for Zherdev.
Dinamo started the second half slightly better but when Pigas released Podstrelov down the right-hand channel, Alfred’s header to the resulting cross lacked power and Gordon easily saved. A Podstrelov free kick was then headed narrowly wide by Alfred, but offside was given.
In the 61st minute Shankland sent a shot from the edge of the area curling toward the far corner, but Lapoukhov produced an excellent diving save to push away, and Kalinin put the rebound off for a corner before Vargas could pounce. Kent then produced a good piece of defending to prevent the ball reaching Alfred.
The game continued to be low on quality with the impression that these two sides were likely to be in the bottom third of the Conference League table after their six games. The next piece of “action” saw a long ball from the Dinamo defence headed on for Alfred to burst through two defenders, but Gordon dived at his feet to grab the ball but in any case, the referee decided that one, or maybe both of the defenders had been fouled.
The first yellow card of the game was produced in the 70th minute when Devlin fouled Pedro Igor. Alfred got his head to the free kick, but it was a routine save for Gordon.
Shankland then had a long-range effort on target, but Lapoukhov made a straightforward diving save, whilst at the other end Selyava’s 20 yard attempt went just over the bar although Gordon looked to have it covered.
With just over 11 minutes remaining, Grant got on the end of a flick from Shankland and wriggled past a Dinamo defender, but Lapoukhov was off his line to dive on the ball. Dhanda then wasted a free kick in a promising position by hammering it high over the bar.
With five minutes left to play Dinamo surprisingly took off Alfred, who had looked their most threatening player. Shankland almost capitalised but his header from a corner was blocked close to the goal-line by Kulikov and the loose ball was rather tamely dinked over a crowd of players by Vargas for Lapoukhov to easily catch.
At the other end a ball across the Hearts’ goalmouth reached Adeola, but the substitute could only shoot into the side netting.
There was still time for Melnichenko to receive the game’s second yellow card for a robust challenge and Pigas whipped in a cross from the right-wing, but Gordon dived forward to gather.
As the game entered the fourth and final minute of added time with the game seemingly heading for a tame finish to a poor game, the ball ricoched off Adeola as he tackled Shankland and headed toward the Dinamo byline. Grant was alert to run onto the ball and produced a decent cross towards the far post for Shankland. The header went back across goal and was going well wide, but Dhanda was able to react and his flicked header from the centre of the 6-yard line nestled in the corner of the net. 1-2 after 94 minutes.
With just seconds left to play Dinamo launched two long balls into the Hearts’ area, but both were well defended and Hearts held onto take the three points. With their first win in 10 games, maybe this win will turn their season around, but frankly, on this showing they looked very ordinary.
Dinamo looked shattered to have had the game snatched away from them at the death, and draw would have been a fair result as neither team showed enough quality to deserve a win.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZyzhyXJsVA
Dinamo Minsk : Lapoukhov – Pigas, Politevich, Sachivko, Rai Lopes ( Selyava ) – Amian, Kalinin, Demchenko ( Kulikov ) – Podstrelov ( Adeola ), Alfred ( Melnichenko ), Zherdev ( Pedro Igor )
Heart Of Midlothian : Gordon - Forrester, Kent, Rowles, Penrice – Devlin ( Grant ), Baningime ( Tait ), Spittal, Forrest ( Vargas ) – Shankland, McKay ( Dhanda )
