Sochi with a handicap (0)
Sochi with a handicap (0)
Fakel has a rather difficult situation in the championship: before this round, it takes 14th place, 1 point ahead of Khimki, who are in the relegation zone. The whole battle between these teams is yet to come, I think they will decide who goes direct and who plays in the play-offs. After the resumption of the season, Fakel played 2 matches, in which she managed to score only 1 point, drawing at home with Khimki (1: 1). In the last round, the club from Voronezh lost away to Spartak (2:3), although they put up serious resistance from one of the strongest teams in the championship. I note that Fakel draws very often this season – in 19 games he has 11 draws with rivals, and if you only consider home games, he played here 7 times in 9 games.
For Sochi, the last round was extremely unsuccessful: at home, the club lost to Orenburg – 0: 4, although from the point of view of the game it did not deserve such a defeat. Sochi looked even better than the opponent, but the conversion failed, and Orenburg used almost all his chances. In the penultimate round, Kurban Berdiev’s players defeated CSKA 2:0 at home, so the loss of 3 points with Orenburg looks like a sensational result. Sochi is in 9th place before this round, 9 points away from the relegation zone, so it can feel calm. And generally, I think that under Berdiev’s leadership, the team will clearly improve, especially in defensive play, and will systematically score points.
Sochi is the better team and will be able to at least not lose in Voronezh, although Fakel will do anything to win – they need points badly now. There is no need to wait for many goals, Sochi attaches great importance to defense after the last game, so it might as well not miss.