Fomenko hails Ukraine, Belarus rue finishing
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Article summary
"The players showed full commitment out there," Ukraine coach Mykhailo Fomenko said after his team scored two late goals to beat Belarus at the Borisov Arena.
Article top media content
Article body
• Mykhailo Fomenko says players "earned their victory"
• Two goals in final eight minutes secure points in Borisov
• Georgi Kondratiev regrets missed opportunities
• Next games: Belarus v Slovakia, Ukraine v FYR Macedonia (12 October)
Mykhailo Fomenko, Ukraine coach
Our players were mentally and physically tired before the game as the match was preceded by the FC Dynamo Kyiv game against FC Shakhtar Donetsk. We gathered the squad together three days ago so had very limited time to get ready. The players showed full commitment today on the pitch and earned their victory. I wouldn't say Belarus surprised us. Today, with modern technology, it is hard for opponents to surprise each other.
Georgi Kondratiev, Belarus coach
I can't criticise the boys for their performance. They showed great commitment and determination to get a result. Ukraine could not score themselves – we helped them. Maybe in the first half we struggled a bit more but then we gained momentum. We had opportunities to score, [Egor] Filipenko was close and [Mikhail] Gordeychuk had several chances. Probably we lacked efficiency in our finishing. I think a draw would have been a fair result today.
