Finally, big-time football has returned to Lutsk. The renewed, and therefore somewhat mysterious, "Volyn" hosted at "Avangard" one of its main competitors in the fight to stay in the league - Kirovohrad's "Zirka". The fans' eyes were pleased by the return to the coaching bench of Vitaliy Kvartsyanyy, whose disqualification, received back in the first round after the away game against "Borysfen", had finally ended.

Already at the start of the game, the "Volyn" players clearly showed who was in charge on the field. The first shot on the "Zirka" goal had to be waited for only some 40 seconds. Later, Vasyl Sachko had two excellent chances. First, he failed to reach Petrov's pass, and then he headed poorly after a cross from Taavi Rähn. The Kirovohrad side "bared their teeth" in the 11th minute, when Sokolovskyi, having received a pass from Kyrylov, fired at point-blank range at the "Volyn" goal. This time they got away with it - the ball went past the goal. A few minutes later, the play again shifted to the visitors' half of the field. Sachko successfully assisted Petrov. Yuriy found himself alone in front of the "Zirka" goal, but shot far over the crossbar. Even later, Sachko and Trapaidze fired at Stoyko from close range. In the 23rd minute, Huliiev got a chance to go one-on-one with the visitors' goalkeeper, but noticing that he had come far out of his goal, he tried to lob him with a light chipped shot and hit the crossbar. A mournful silence descended on the stadium after the 30th minute, when Postolatiev, taking advantage of a mistake not so much by the Lutsk defense as by... the linesman, who failed to notice an obvious offside position, drove the ball into the net of Yana Zolny's goal. But the deathly silence over the field did not last long. Three minutes later, the visitors fouled Petrov in their own penalty area, and Kovalyets converted the 11-meter kick without any problems. "Volyn" could have gone into the break as the winner too. Dombrai in the 42nd minute, intercepting the ball in the center of the field, found Vasyl Sachko in the visitors' penalty area with a cross. Our goal scorer struck spectacularly on the volley and the ball flew just past the goalpost. A moment later, the ball was cleared off the goal line by the Kirovohrad defender Dobrianskyi.

"Volyn" began the second half stormily. Already in the 48th minute, Trapaidze sent Petrov one-on-one with Stoyko, and Yuriy pushed the ball into the net. The Lutsk side were not going to stop there. Mitich had another meeting with the visitors' goalkeeper. Stoyko was only able to stop our forward by breaking the rules. This time Sachko stepped up to take the penalty, though he had been having a frankly poor game all match. Vasyl failed to distinguish himself this time either. His shot from the spot was parried by Stoyko (the visitors' goalkeeper's performance was inspired by the birth of his second child the day before the game - author's note). In the 54th minute, the visitors created their second and last, but very dangerous chance. Sokolovskyi met a free-kick delivery with his head. The stands froze, but the ball still went past the "Volyn" goal. Afterwards the game calmed down and shifted to the center of the field. Then, in the 86th minute, Vasyl Sachko had his say. Having received a pass from Trapaidze, he drove the ball into the net on the volley - 3:1. So, the "Volyn" fans did not have to wait long for the first spring home victory. We hope that already in the next round, after the game against "Karpaty", our team will please us with its first away points of the season.

Yuriy Koval: - Today, in essence, it was a game for six points. I can note that the opponent surprised me a little by offering us open attacking football with three forwards. Obviously, Vitaliy Kvartsyanyy's return also helped the "Volyn" players, creating a certain emotional effect. Despite this, I want to say that we also had chances to achieve a more acceptable result, if not for the weak play of our defenders. But I can say that no matter how difficult our situation at the club is, we will continue the fight for a place in the top league until the end.

Vitaliy Kvartsyanyy: - I knew the game would be very hard. I saw how persistently our opponent worked at the training camp. And today "Zirka" in Lutsk showed quite a decent and skilled game. After the conceded goal, I saw confusion in my players' eyes and understood that if nothing happened, I would not be able to influence them even during the break. Fortunately, the lads did pull themselves together and brought the game to a victorious end. Our collective is not bad right now, but there is still no balance in the team's actions, because all the players are currently in different physiological phases.