PLEKHANOV: “This will be a very difficult test for us”

Head coach of “Kharkov Falcons” Valery Plekhanov He commented on plans for the near future, as the team lost to Kiev-Basket in the quarter-finals of the Ukrainian Cup and the next Super League round with the team’s participation was postponed until next year.

– Summarizing the results of last week, I would like to say that we passed a really tough test in Kiev. In my opinion, we got the hardest batch possible.

Today “Krivbass” look quite strong, they invested a lot of energy into the game, both emotional and physical, and that is exactly what we lacked in the match “Kyiv-Basket” the next day. Additionally, our infirmary is constantly being renovated. Three of the players in the 1/4 finals played the match with injections due to a hopeless situation, otherwise we would not have had enough people to play.

I thank my friends very much for this trip. Those in the ranks put forth all their strength and fought as best they could. Unfortunately, the last two minutes of the Kyiv-Basket match did not allow us to enter the Final 4. But sports are sports and basketball is a game where the strong win. We congratulate Kiev on reaching the Final Four and wish them a good game in this final.

As for immediate plans, we recently learned that the last tour before the New Year, planned to be held in Ivano-Frankivsk, has been postponed due to technical reasons. On the one hand, this is not bad for us, considering the hospital is full and the rehabilitation time for injured players is increasing. On the other hand, we understand that we will have to play for six consecutive weekends after the New Year. Considering the Falcons play all of their games on the road, this will be quite a tough test for any squad. We hope that in the time allotted without matches, we will be able to rehabilitate the players as much as possible and get them in shape, which will allow us to progress towards our pre-set goals in the championship.

We have a great education process ahead of us. We have almost no long-term vacation days for New Year’s holidays – we only take a few days off, taking into account the New Year. There will be a lot of work the rest of the time. If we want to get results we have to work hard. The training cycle has been planned and the work started today.