Veres Rivne edged past Kulikov 1-0 in the Round of 32 of the Cup on Wednesday evening. The visitors held firm after Ilya Kharatin's stoppage-time strike and saw out a tight contest where the hosts grew in confidence but could not find the breakthrough. The win keeps Veres alive in the competition and moves them another step closer to the quarter-finals.
Match Breakdown
Kulikov started brighter, pressing high and keeping the ball in Veres's half. The hosts created enough to suggest they should have too much for them, but the away side sat deep and soaked it up, waiting for the right moment. And here's the thing — the game shifted in the closing stages of the first half.
At forty-five minutes and one, Kharatin found space inside the box and finished clinically. Kulikov pushed for an equaliser immediately, throwing bodies forward, but Veres kept their heads and absorbed the pressure. The away side had opened talks about their approach for the second half, and by then they knew the structure would hold.
Come the restart, Kulikov made changes to get a grip on the game. Anton Bey came on at forty-six, followed by Taras Kalynchuk at sixty and Volodymyr Sharay at sixty-two. Veres responded with their own adjustments, bringing on Mykhailo Sharabura at sixty-nine and Maksym Aleksandrov at seventy-one.
Kulikov dominated possession but struggled to break down the compact defensive block. The hosts registered seventy-three attacks against Veres's ninety-seven, yet the visitors carried more intent when they moved forward. To be fair, Kulikov's frustration showed in two yellow cards, while Veres picked up two of their own.
The statistics tell one story, but the match told another. Kulikov held forty-five percent of possession with zero corners, while Veres claimed fifty-five percent and won seven set-pieces in the final third. Many shots with one goal means chances went begging, and Kulikov found themselves running out of games to turn this around.
Our prediction pointed toward a Veres victory with seventy-two percent confidence, and that proved correct. The visitors earned a result they deserved, having weathered the storm and struck when it mattered most. Kulikov will need to regroup quickly if they are to salvage anything from this tie.
