League Play-Off

Ekaterinburg
Spectators: 34 (Terracing: 26, Seating: 8, VIP seats: 0) Dark clouds were building up when the players entered the field. None of the them looked very eager to play. Georgiy Plastinin started the match with the kick off. In the 3rd minute of the match Leonid Berezutskiy sent off a long shot with destination to the right of the goalkeeper, but Yuriy Nedosekov skillfully saved the ball. When Rostislav Vasilenok fell near the penalty area in the 9th minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored Ekaterinburg's protests and gave Rostislav Vasilenok a yellow card for diving instead. Rostislav Vasilenok hit a great freekick 9 minutes into the match. When the match clock showed 13 minutes, the score became 0-1 when Georgiy Plastinin sped through Ekaterinburg's defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Albert Afanasenko. The referee was alert and spotted a serious foul by Ilya Martynov during the 18th minute. The player immediately received a yellow card. In the 18th minute, Ilya Martynov hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. With an all-out effort, Ekaterinburg's Yuriy Nedosekov threw himself towards the right post 20 minutes into the match and grabbed hold of the ball from Nikolay Tolokin, which otherwise would have been placed in the net. Albert Afanasenko showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Georgiy Plastinin in the 21st minute of the match. Georgiy Plastinin received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 24th minute. Albert Afanasenko tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. After recieving a nice pass, Nizhnevartovsk's Oleg Akkerman tried to score from far away in the 32nd minute, but the ball went over the crossbar. Albert Afanasenko showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Lev Grinin, who was totally free with the ball in the 35th minute. Lev Grinin recieved an excellent pass in front of the goal in the 47th minute. Unfortunately, he received the ball on his off foot and could only manage a weak shot that went over the goal.

The hometeam waved at the audience when it was time for Nikolay Tolokin to strike the kick off in the second half. An unexpectedly hard shot by Nikolay Tolokin in the 57th minute of play forced Nizhnevartovsk's goalkeeper Yuriy Nedosekov to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Vadim Pleshko sent away a hard shot on goal in the 59th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. In the 63rd minute, Lev Grinin got an opportunity to score, but he didn't get a solid hit on the ball and ended up kicking it wide of the goal. With his leg Albert Afanasenko managed to avoid a goal in the 65thth minute, when Nizhnevartovsk's Lev Grinin fired away a shot with a lot of spin towards his right hand side. When Arkadiy Fetkevich fell near the penalty area in the 67th minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored Nizhnevartovsk's protests and gave Arkadiy Fetkevich a yellow card for diving instead. Arkadiy Fetkevich kicked well hit freekick during the 67th minute of the match. Luka Vardul took a chance and fired a shot far from the goal in the 68th minute, but it turned out to be a dangerous situation for Yuriy Nedosekov. Nizhnevartovsk's goalkeeper really had to stretch himself to stop the ball from crossing the goal line. After having played for 70 minutes, Lev Grinin managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Nizhnevartovsk's supporters crossed their fingers, but Lev Grinin was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. When the match clock showed 72 minutes, the score became 0-3 when Georgiy Plastinin sped through Ekaterinburg's defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Albert Afanasenko. In the 76th minute of the match Kirill Vetlugin shot from a long distance. The ball could have gone into the goal to the right of the goalkeeper, but Yuriy Nedosekov showed his good shape when he easily got hold of the ball. In the 78th minute Nikolay Tolokin shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Yuriy Nedosekov saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. After 78 minutes of play, Ekaterinburg's Nikolay Tolokin made it 1-3 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Yuriy Nedosekov was left in no man's land by his defense there! After 89 minutes of play, Ekaterinburg's Nikolay Tolokin made it 3-3 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Yuriy Nedosekov was left in no man's land by his defense there! Georgiy Plastinin received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 93rd minute. Albert Afanasenko tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. In the 97thth minute of the game Nikolay Tolokin who was perfectly placed tried to make a shot on goal, but Nizhnevartovsk's Yuriy Nedosekov was lucky and managed to grab hold of the ball. Ekaterinburg succeeded in salvaging a draw, even though Nizhnevartovsk had controlled the match.