Yevhen Nazarov: "Missed the victories"

Main coach of "Metalist 1925" U19 Yevhen Nazarov summed up the victory over "Epicenter" and shared his thoughts on the end of his team's winless streak:

— Congratulations on the victory. What is your overall comment on the match against "Epicenter"?

— Thank you for the congratulations. It's been a while since we won, we missed the victories, so we prepared the players accordingly for this match. We had to make some changes to the lineup, today young players born in 2008 and 2009 made their debut in the starting lineup. The beginning of the game was not as we wanted because we conceded an early goal and realized that we needed to seek happiness near the opponent's goal. We started to implement this, created chances. In the first half, the ball didn't go into the net at first, but in the second half, we managed to score. We scored more than once and achieved a positive result.

— What were your instructions after the first half when the team was losing, and what did you demand from the players in the second half?

— We asked the defenders to analyze their game, to play more strictly and guide each other because there were some moments when we had some chaos. We focused on that, also asked to move the ball faster, to switch it from flank to flank quickly so that the opponent couldn't intercept. The plan worked.

— You mentioned that for a long time before this match, you couldn't win, how much did this winless streak weigh on the team mentally?

— Honestly, it weighed quite heavily. The thing is, there were games where we should have won, but we conceded a goal in the final minutes. However, the previous match in Lviv against "Karpaty" we clearly failed. So, first of all, we wanted to prove to ourselves that our boys can play football, and the result of the match against "Karpaty" was a coincidence.

— Do you think that such a strong-willed victory over "Epicenter," which ended this streak, can be a starting point for a new, but already positive streak?

— I don't make predictions (laughs). We want to play each game in a way that ultimately leads to a victory. It doesn't always work out because it's a game. We'll see how it goes.