Kemerovo complete clean sweep
Kemerovo beat Gorky Nizhny Novgorod 3-0 in the Russian Cup on Tuesday evening. The visitors took all three sets without dropping a single one, extending their recent dominance over the hosts.
And here's the thing — this was the third meeting between these sides this season, and Kemerovo have now won all three. The previous two encounters also finished 3-0 to the visitors, so the pattern was already clear before this match.
Gorky sit third in the table with eight points from six games. Three wins and three losses leave them on the edge of the standings, and another heavy defeat does little to ease the pressure. By then, the gap to the teams above them had barely moved.
Kemerovo's recent form tells its own story. They lost three matches in a row before turning it on against Gorky, but those two straight victories over the hosts suggest a different kind of confidence. Cup football has its own rhythm, and they are playing to it.
The result keeps Kemerovo's campaign alive while Gorky face a difficult run. They have nothing to lose now, but they also have a lot to prove. The history between them adds an edge to every encounter, and this one was no different.