Niva Ternopil edged past UKSA 1-0 at home in the third round of the First League on Friday. The victory keeps both sides level on six points, though the hosts sit one place above their visitors in the table. It was a match decided by a single moment — D. Sabiyev's goal in the sixty-seventh minute — and a failure to punish a penalty opportunity much earlier.
A. Boryachuk stood over the spot-kick in the ninth minute and could not beat the keeper. The miss hung over the game. Niva pressed forward after that, but UKSA held firm, and the visitors could spring a surprise if they took their chances. By then, the tension had already set the tone.
Sabiyev finally broke the deadlock after an hour. He found space and finished cleanly, ending a barren spell for his side. UKSA felt the pressure and tried to respond, but the goal came too late to change the balance. The hosts had the game won inside twenty minutes, but could not afford another slip.
The match grew increasingly physical. Five yellow cards were shown in the second half alone — two at seventy-four minutes, then one each at eighty, eighty-two and eighty-four. It was not pretty football, but it was honest. The support of the fans could be called devoted, but that is an assessment, not a fact. The fact is that the club sits top of the table
Both teams enter the next round with identical records: one win, three draws, two defeats. The difference is positional — Niva hold eleventh, UKSA twelfth. This result ends a run for the visitors, who had beaten their hosts 3-0 in June. They cannot afford another slip if they want to climb.
