Ukraine round-up: Shatskikh at the double

Maxim Shatskikh scored twice against FC Metalurh Donetsk on Sunday as FC Dynamo Kyiv consolidated their grip on second spot with a 2-0 win, but they failed to make any ground on leaders FC Shakhtar Donetsk who beat FC Illichivets Mariupil 4-2.

Shatskikh double
Valentin Bielkevich teed up Shatskikh for the opener after only seven minutes, but the home side were made to wait by a determined Metalurh before making sure of the points through the league's leading scorer, Shatskikh, on 79 minutes.

Shakhtar leave it late
Defending champions Shakhtar maintained their four-point lead at the top with a thrilling win over Illichivets. Anatoly Tymoschuk put the home side ahead from the penalty spot, but Illichivets hit back to take a 2-1 lead into the interval after Mariusz Lewandowski had missed another penalty chance. Milan Jovanovic drew Shakhtar level after the break then Olexiy Byelik struck twice to ease the home side's nerves

Haydash hat-trick
The 35-year-old striker Olexandr Haydash scored a stunning hat-trick in just 15 minutes to lead FC Tavriya Simferopol to a 3-2 victory over third-placed FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Goals from Ruslan Rotan and Oleh Venglinskiy put Dnipro in front, but Haydash struck three times between the 21st and 36th minutes to earn Tavriya the points. With the defeat, Dnipro fell four points adrift of Dynamo in second.

Chornomorets on form
Elsewhere, FC Vorskla Poltava beat FC Karpaty Lviv 3-0 to pull away from the bottom, FC Chornomorets Odesa continued their successful spring run with a 2-1 win away to bottom-club FC Metalurh Zaporizhya, and FC Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih and FC Volyn Lutsk were 1-0 winners over FC Obolon Kyiv and FC Olexandria respectively.

Later winner