Match Report
On paper the standings were lopsided — Shakhter Donetsk 1st with 53 points, Zarya Lugansk 10th with 30, 23 apart. Zarya Lugansk's recent output outran their position: 3rd on form over five rounds, 10th in the table. Per game in the league, Zarya Lugansk were scoring 1.46 and conceding 1.42, Shakhter Donetsk 1.96 and 0.92, against a competition average of 1.37 goals per team per game.
Shakhter Donetsk arrived on a run of five straight wins, having scored in 9 consecutive games. The five-game form split read 8/15 points for Zarya Lugansk against 15/15 for Shakhter Donetsk.
The referee was A. Klyuev, with 20 matches in our database and 0.2 yellows per game on average. Half-time and full-time told different stories: it was 0-0 at the break, before 2 more goals closed it at 1-1.
Goal scorers
Zarya Lugansk: M. Zakharov (55') · Shakhter Donetsk: B. Reichman (64')