Sergiy Lavrynenko: "Although we have conceded, I have nothing to blame the wards"

16.05.2019 02:27

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Serhiy Lavrynenko, the head coach of Petrivka's Ingulets, shared his impressions afterwards of the final match of the Cup of Ukraine against Shakhtar Donetsk:

- First of all, I want to congratulate my wards on reaching the Cup final. It is gratifying that we became participants in the match, which turned out to be a historic event for us. We understood that we would play with one of the most titled teams in Ukraine, so we soberly assessed our strengths. At certain moments we tried to counteract the opponent, but it is clear that Ingulets and Shakhtar are on different planets in terms of the level of the game.

However, I thank my guys for the way we went to the final. We had interesting and difficult games in which the team looked decent and did not lose to rivals. And already in the final we enjoyed the atmosphere and the stadium. Even as spectators, not all of our players had to be at such an event.

— In the first half you replaced Oleksandr Mishurenko. How serious is his injury?

- We don't know for sure yet. Most likely, he will not help us by the end of the championship. Injury to the back of the thigh requires several weeks of recovery. We now play games every four days, including matches postponed due to the Cup. They will be played by those performers who will be healthy. We will try to spend the end of the season at a good level.

— What did you say to the guys in the locker room after the fight?

- I thanked them for the way they went to the final and for the match itself. We really understood that Shakhtar has no equal in Ukraine today. All the Brazilians who came on the field worked wonders. In addition, rivals caught the courage, leading in the score. We made mistakes. If they pass in the first league, and at this level the implementation is XNUMX%…

— What did you talk about with Paul Fonseca before the match started?

- He said that we are already winners, since we reached the final, that our team deserves respect. It was great to hear these words from such a specialist. It is nice that after the match Shakhtar players thanked us. Although we lost - 0: 4 with a significant advantage of the opponent, I have nothing to blame my wards.

— Did this match become an indicator of Ingulec's readiness to get into the Premier League?

- I have already said that it is difficult for anyone in Ukraine to compare with Shakhtar. On the other hand, in the Cup of Ukraine we played against Mariupol, Karpaty and Zorya, and I did not see a significant difference between these teams and ours. As for Shakhtar, no team in the championship could compete with it, in fact it has already become the winner of the Premier League. We need to do a lot to improve the class - not only in terms of team training, but also in infrastructure.

— Are you going to continue to follow the club's openness policy?

- We try to treat every game this way. It's just that we've never seen such excitement as the one that arose around the final match. If there were so many cameras and correspondents in every match of the first league, such openness would always be. We want people to talk positively about Ingulets, we try to show a meaningful game. We play quite spectacularly in the championship - the last matches prove it. They drew 1: 3 with Dnipro-3, defeated Obolon-Brovar 3: 2, although they lost by two goals ...

— Do you regret not being able to win a solid cash reward?

- We went to the field not for money, but first of all to compete for prestige. Guys and so well done. We have made history, because the next Cup finalist from the first or second league will be the second after us.