Kulikov hosted SK Poltava in the First League, regular season match 9, and the home side came through with a 2:1 win on Saturday afternoon. The result shifts the momentum in a match that looked settled until the final quarter.
A. Bey struck early, thirteen minutes in, to give Kulikov an advantage that held for most of the contest. The opener came against the run of play, but it gave the home side the composure to control the tempo.
V. Sad levelled things at sixty-seven minutes, and by then the match had shifted into a different rhythm. Poltava pushed forward with purpose, and their persistence paid off in the second half.
O. Savoshko made the difference at eighty minutes, and here's the thing — that late goal changed everything about how the evening ended. Kulikov held on after that, showing enough resolve to see it through.
The result keeps SK Poltava in second place on fifteen points, while Kulikov moves up to fourth with fourteen points after nine matches. The gap between them narrows to just one point, and that matters in a league this close.
Kulikov had struggled recently with two straight defeats, but this victory rescued a point after a tough run. SK Poltava came into the game unbeaten in their last five outings, though they'd dropped points in two of those.