Alexandria beat Ingulets 3:0 in the First League regular season on Saturday. The hosts kept their perfect start intact, moving further clear of the lower half of the table. By then they had already shown enough to suggest this season might be different.
S. Malysh turned the match early with an own goal in the twenty-eighth minute. It gave the home side something to build on, and they did. To be fair, Ingulets had not come to fight, and the visitors made it easier for themselves.
P. Yade added the second in the fifty-second minute, a straightforward finish that put the tie beyond doubt. Five minutes later O. Dykhtyaruk made it three, and the game was effectively over. And here's the thing — three goals in quick succession is not always luck.
Alexandria sit third after six games, with three wins and three draws and no defeats, twelve points on the board. Ingulets are eighth after six games, two wins, two draws, two losses, eight points. The gap between them now feels wider than the numbers suggest.
The visitors had lost 1:2 to the hosts earlier this season in July and could not reverse that result. Their recent form — a draw, a win, a loss — offered little comfort. The hosts, meanwhile, had been involved in a 4:4 thriller just last week and came back to deliver.
The clean-sheet run came to an end for Ingulets, who will need to find a way to close down the space behind. Alexandria fancy their chances if they keep this up. The table is only three rounds in, but the message was clear enough.