Novosibirsk beat Cherepovec 4:0 in a club friendly on 31 August 2026. The hosts put in a performance that made light work of their visitors, and the result felt like a statement of intent ahead of the new season. To be fair, both sides had been mixing results in recent weeks.
Novosibirsk came into the match with mixed form. They had won 6:3 against Nizhnekamsk, dropped points 2:5 to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, then followed with a 5:2 victory over Avangard Omsk. Before those, they had kept a clean sheet with a 4:0 win against Sochi and lost 1:3 to Vladivostok. The Cherepovec side had their own ups and downs.
Cherepovec's run looked heavier on the bad end. They lost 2:3 to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, then went down 1:7 to Nizhnekamsk. A 3:2 win over Avangard Omsk helped, but they had also lost 4:6 to Spartak Moscow and 1:3 to SKA St Petersburg. By then, the visitors had nothing much to play for in this fixture.
What the match showed was a clear gap between the two sides. Novosibirsk scored four goals without reply, which is more than enough to make a point against a team that had been conceding freely. The hosts pressed high up the pitch and Cherepovec looked uncomfortable from the first whistle.
