SKA Khabarovsk beat Velez 2-0 in the First League's Regular Season round 6 on 15 August 2026, a result that kept the hosts' slim hopes alive while Velez maintained their grip on second place.
Igor Shkolik opened the scoring in the 42nd minute, catching Velez off-guard before Aleksandr Shubin picked up a yellow card just a minute later. The home side had been patient in build-up, and here's the thing — that patience finally paid off when Shkolik found space in the box.
Half-time brought immediate changes, with Shubin replaced by Ivan Nikin in the 46th minute. Velez's coach was clearly unhappy with the performance, and the substitution came before anyone could claim the visitors were still in control.
Igor Shkolik received his second yellow card in the 52nd minute, a booking that seemed to energise SKA's bench. Mikheil Gorelishvili came on for Vladislav Galkin in the 58th minute, and by then Velez were chasing the game rather than dictating it.
Velez made their own changes as the match wore on, with Kamran Aliev booked twice in quick succession — first in the 64th minute, then again in the 67th — before being replaced by Eldar Bliev. That double booking left the visitors with ten men for the final quarter of the match.
Yuriy Zavezen, Vadim Vshivkov and Stepan Glotov all came on in the 70s, while P. Kotov added fresh legs in the 83rd minute. Egor Noskov then doubled SKA's lead in the 90th minute plus one, and Islam Melikov picked up a late yellow card three minutes into stoppage time.
The statistics tell their own story — SKA Khabarovsk had 49 per cent possession but managed seven shots on target to Velez's six, while the visitors enjoyed 51 per cent of the ball with just one shot off target. Both sides collected two yellow cards each, and SKA won five corners to Velez's four.
SKA Khabarovsk remain in 18th place with nine games played, one win, eight defeats and three points, while Velez's 22 points from ten matches keep them firmly in second. The result does little to change either side's position, but for SKA it was a point earned rather than lost.