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One more triumphal step.
At the 18th tour of the championship 3 days after losing its game against "Dnipr" in Dnipropetrovsk by 11 penalty shootout, "Ararat" again played in "Meteor" stadium this time in the semifinal of the USSR Cup. It was quite natural, that the rivals had "investigated" themselves in the previous game, so the cup semifinal began without any "investigation". As Nikolai Khazaryan was injured. "Ararat" played with its forwards Ishtoyan and Margarov, and Andreasyan, Bondarenko, Zanazanyan were the semi defenders. And "Dnipr" tried its best to create dangerous moments. They created two dangerous moments, but Abrahamyan was again brilliant. After the break "Ararat" took the full initiative. Zanazanyan's shots were really impressive. A few minutes later Mesropyan passed the ball to Margarov who opened the score. Everything was done very rapidly, and Koltun didn't even manage to move. It was the 4th goal of Margarov at the cup championship. "Ararat" was satisfied with its achievement. But they didn't pass to defense, they managed to play the way they wanted and they didn't fail. They won a victory (1:0) in the first match and preserved great chances to win the final entry card. Two weeks later they had to play again in "Hrazdan" stadium, but before that match, very important matches at the championship were still to come.
The Leader looked tired.
"Ararat" left Dnipropetrovsk for Lvov, where they had to play against "Karpats". The Ukrainian team was rather weak. They were the 15th in the fixture list with 9 scores, and struggled bitterly for staying in the premier league. For the last 2 weeks "Ararat" had to struggle at two fronts. It was not so easy to do. "Ararat" will have to play 5 matches (within a fortnight) against 4 Ukrainian great clubs. And it is quite natural, that this kind of schedule would finally leave its impact on their actions. And it happened so at the play against "Karpats", the leader looked tired, and they lost their first game in the championship with large score difference. It is worth mentioning that the two previous matches against "Karpats" were also difficult for "Ararat". In 1971 the match in Lvov was finished with 2:2, and the next one "Ararat" lost its match with 0:1.
The situation was getting worse in the following match as a few players of "Ararat" were injured. Arkadi Andreasyan was invited to the national team to play against Sweden in a friendly match. Kovalenko, Khazaryan and Poghosyan hadn't arrived in Lvov because of various injuries.
The match started in a very unsuccessful way for "Ararat". Right at the beginning of the match Khizhak opened the score. And 7 minutes later "Karpats" scored for the second time. But "Ararat" wasn't at a mess; they started to supress their rival periodically and was about to score, but it seemed as if "Karpats'" goals were bewitched. The Ukrainian footballers acted with great devotion and tried not to miss their chances to attack. Kozinchik was especially dangerous. And during one of their attacks he passed the ball to Shpodarunok, who scored for the third time. After the break "Ararat" completely took the initiative but unfortunately failed to find the key to its rivals goals. The opinion of "Karpats'" chief coach Valentin Budukin on the match sounded like this; "I am pleased with match, we hadn't played so well for a long time. We had prepared for this match quite well. Our players considerably exceeded their rival with their "freshness", who looked tired. After this lost match the difference of scores between "Ararat", "Dinamo" K. and CSKA was reduced up to 3 scores. This was the second match of 5 ones that "Ararat" didn't accumulate scores.
Those unfortunate 11 penalty shootouts.
At the 20th tour of the championship "Ararat" played against SKA in "Hrazdan" stadium, which was the last one in the fixture list. The fans inclined to hope, that after two unsuccessful matches "Ararat" would win a victory. And the start of the match was promising. The first attack finished with opening the score. Two minutes later the same combination was repeated, but Andreasyan failed to score this time. Within the first 20 minutes the rival was at a mess. Boychenko saved Zanazanyan's kick. But soon, "Ararat" decreased its activeness gradually which enabled the guests to equal the score. Eskov organized attacks skillfully and our defenders didn't manage to anything with him. And soon he scored...The guests were encouraged with their success and organized dangerous attacks for several times, and Abrahamyan had to show all his skills saving Churkin's and Filatov's kicks. This goal made our players play more actively. Soon Ishtoyan was fallen down, but Boychenko saved the 11 penalty shot kicked by Andreasyan. This failure encouraged the guests and made our footballers feel spiritually worse. Right a few minutes after the break Antonov kicked the second goal. Feeling the real danger of loosing the game, "Ararat" started to attack massively. Nazar Petrosyan brought much activeness to the play of the team. And Andreasyan soon scored a goal by his pass. The score was 2:2. And 11 penalty shootout was still to come, and this time our players failed again. Andreasyan was unlucky that day; he failed to realize two 11 penalty shots which were saved by Boychenko. In fact, these became decisive for "Ararat". "Dinamo" K. won a victory over "Torpedo" (2:0) and had almost reached "Ararat". The scoring difference was minimum. And according to the match schedule "Ararat" had to play next against "Dinamo" K. That match could be decisive in the struggle for gold medals.
USSR Cup semifinal.
First Match
"Dnipr" - "Ararat" - 0:1 (0:0).
August 1, Dnipropetrovsk, "Meteor" stadium, 36.000 fans.
Referee - V. Loushin (Moscow).
"Dnipr" - Koltun, Yevseenko (Solovyov, 61), Ivanov, Nayda, Fedorenko, Maslov, Sklyar, Grinko, Pilipchuk (Nazarov, 46), Khristyan, Porkuyan.
"Ararat" - Abrahamyan, Martirosyan, Sargsyan, A. Haroutunyan, Mesropyan, Andreasyan, Bondarenko, Ishtoyan, Margarov, Zanazanyan, N. Petrosyan.
Scorer - Margarov (62).
19 Tour
"Karpats" - "Ararat" - 3:0 (3:0)
August 4, Lvov, "Drourhba" stadium, 26.000 fans.
Referee - K. Smirnov (Leningrad)
"Karpats" - Nayda - 5, Kikot - 5, Potochnyak - 5, Chorba - 5 (Gereg, 68), Savka - 5, Brovarski - 5, Khizhak - 5 (Likhachov, 68), Pokora - 5, Shpodarunok - 5, Fursov - 5, Kozinkevich - 5.
"Ararat" - Abrahamyan - 3, Martirosyan - 2, Sargsyan - 2, A. Haroutunyan - 2, Mesropyan - 2, Petrosyan - 3, Bondarenko - 2, Ishtoyan - 3, Margarov - 3, Zanazanyan - 3, N. Petrosyan - 2.
Scorers - Khizhak (2), Chorba (9), Shpudarunok (42).
Zanazanyan, Pokora were yellow carded.
Substitutes - 0:1.
Scorer - Hovhannisyan.
"Zenith" - "Shakhtar" - 3:0
"Torpedo" - "Kayrat" - 1:3
"Zarya" - "Spartak" - 2:0
"Dinamo" K. - "Dinamo" Mn. - 4:0
"Dinamo" M. - "Pakhtakor" - 1:1, 6-5 by 11 penalty shootout.
CSKA - SKA - 3:1
"Dnipr" - "Dinamo" Tb. 0:0, 4:2 by 11 penalty shootout.
20 Tour
"Ararat" - SKA - 2:2 (1:1) 4:5 by 11 penalty shootout.
August 12, Yerevan, "Hrazdan" stadium, 38.000 fans.
Referee - A. Martinov (Moscow).
"Ararat" - Abrahamyan - 3, Martirosyan - 3, Sargsyan - 3, A. Haroutunyan - 3, Mesropyan - 3 (Gevorgyan, 76), Andreasyan - 3, S. Bondarenko - 3 (N. Petrosyan, 59-3), Ishtoyan - 3, Margarov - 3, Zanazanyan - 3, Khazaryan - 3.
SKA - Boychenko, Mogilni - 5 (Makchiboroda, 88), Shergelashvili - 5, Yu. Churkin - 5, Alexandrov - 5, V. Bondarenko - 5, Antonov - 5, Yeskov - 5, Filatov - 5, V. Churkin - 5 (Pleshakov, 78), Khrabrostin - 5.
Scorers - Andreasyan (1, 79), Yeskov (34), Antonov (57).
11 penalty shots were realized by Zanazanyan, Ishtoyan, Martirosyan, Margarov, Antonov, Alexandrov, Yeskov, Yu. Churkin, Khrabrostin.
11 penalty shots were missed by Makhiboroda, Andreasyan (a save by the goalkeeper), A. Haroutunyan.
V. Bondarenko was yellow carded.
Substitutes - 2:1.
Scorers - Hovhannisyan, Minasyan, Nazarenko.
"Torpedo" - "Dinamo" K. - 0:2
"Zarya" - "Dinamo" M. - 0:1
"Pakhtakor" - "Dnipr" - 4:1
"Kayrat" - "Karpats" - 2:1
"Zenith" - "Spartak" - 0:0, 4-5 by 11 penalty shootout.
"Dinamo" Mn. - CSKA - 1:1, 5-3 by 11 penalty shootout.
"Dinamo" Tb. - "Shakhtar" - 0:0, 6:5 by 11 penalty shootout.
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