|
Aghaowa Sent Off Because Of Brawl
REPORT
Shakhtar Donetsk 2 Polihraftehnika 1
Saturday 21st July 2001
Shakhtar Donetsk went top of the table in Ukraine with a 2-1
win over newly-promoted Polihraftekhnika, but it was a far
from convincing performance, and the over-riding memory of
the game will be of the disgraceful brawl in the final
minutes that saw a player from each side sent off.
Yet Shakhtar began brightly, and almost took the lead on ten
minutes, only for Polihraftekhnika keeper Taras Chopyk to
keep out Julius Aghahowa's header with a sharp save.
Two minutes later the Miners did take the lead, Marian
Aliuta slipping the ball through for Andriy Vorobey, who
finished with deathly cool.
Anatoliy Timoschuk went close with a ferocious long-range
effort just after the quarter-hour, but then Shakhtar seemed
to lose momentum, and the game began its ugly slide into
violence.
Senegalese import Assan Ndiaie was the man who began it all,
and he was fortunate only to be booked his brutal challenge
on the visitors' experienced newcomer Volodymyr Sharan, who
had to be substituted.
Yet Polihraftekhnika came more into the game as the half
wore on, and twice only the offside flag denied them an
equaliser.
Shakhtar, though, were the more impressive after the break,
and Chopyk was twice called into meaningful action to deny
Timoschuk and Aghahowa. It was the visitors, however, who
grabbed the second goal. Twice Ivanov got behind the
Shakhtar back-line, and on the second occasion he was hauled
down in the box. Chuichenko converted from the spot.
Andrey Konyushenko and Oleksiy Bielyk were introduced just
after the hour, and that was the signal for a cavalry charge
on the Polihrafteknika goal. Not until the 80th minute were
they successful, though, as Aghahowa fired home Vorobey's
fine ball.
But Aghahowa was quickly to become the villain as he was
sent off along with Pervak for their part in a mass-brawl in
the dying seconds, sparked by the last in a series of
gruesome challenges on the Nigerian.
Shakhtar: Virt, Starostiak, Tymoshchuk, Aliuta, Bakharev (Koniushenko
64), Zubov, Vorobey, Assan, Aghahowa, Lewandowski (Bielyk
64), Okoronkwo
Polihraftekhnika: Chopyk, Tanasiuk, Mokrytskyi, Mishkov, Zub,
Pervak, Danchenko (Khomutov 54), Zhylin, Sharan (Plotko 21),
Chuichenko (Sobol 80), Ivanov
Booked: Assan, Lewandowski (Shakhtar); Plotko, Zub, Chopyk,
Khomutov (Polihrafteknika)
Sent off: Aghahowa (Shakhtar); Pervak (Polihrafteknika)
Referee: Kutsev
|