Oleksandr Kovpak: Kryvbas has quality players and strong foreign players who score a lot

The coach of Kyiv's Obolon Oleksandr Kovpak commented on the home match of the 19th round of the UPL against Kryvyi Rih's Kryvbas - 0:0.

- Let's start with Denys Marchenko. How is Denys? Perhaps the extent of his injury is already known?

- Unfortunately, he got injured. What is most interesting is that he did not feel it right away, because while he was in the game, he was probably still "hot" in emotions. When he realized that it would interfere with him, he asked for a substitution. We talked to the doctor and we understand that an examination is needed. We hope that it is minor.

- The tactics were built around Marchenko, with throws to the forward. Were there any fears that something would go wrong next?

- Of course, he is one of the key figures of our team, who directly starts the attack. We played some moments because we understood that he was the beginning of our attack. During the game, we had to immediately rebuild. But we think that Nazariy Fedorivskyi coped with it and it didn't particularly affect the game. He was ready to replace him immediately, and I think he did it very well.

- Today there were no goals scored, but there were a lot of nerves and arguments. What caused such a degree of the match?

- Indeed, it was an emotional and nervous match. Our first minutes were not as high-quality as we would have liked. We built a plan for the first half, but it didn't work out a little, and this nervousness came with uncertain moments. We rebuilt in the second half, but when the expulsion happened, the plan completely changed. The most important thing was not to concede.

- "Obolon" played with a large number of players in defense. It seemed that a draw would suit you quite well.

- Considering how the game was going and the fact that we were outnumbered, we wanted to finish the match and not concede. We didn't play for a draw from the beginning, because counterattack is our strong point. We were looking for our chances, but in the outnumbered against Kryvbas, it became more difficult. They have quality players and strong foreign players, they score a lot. We are a tough team and today we coped with the defense. The game plan took a back seat, because it was important to keep the score.

Media of FC "Kryvbas" Kryvyi Rih