UPL PREDICTOR MATCHDAY 6
Dynamo Kyiv go into the 6th UPL Matchday of the season as the last remaining unbeaten side in the league. Last time out they once more emerged as 1-0 winners against, the then top of the table club, Oleksandriya. As the old saying goes ‘all records come to an end’ and this time it was the turn of Oleksandriya’s unbeaten run to fall victim to the Kyivan outfit. Viktor Tsyhankov’s clever finish from outside the box was enough to separate the sides. Elsewhere, due Dynamo’s game against Mariupol being postponed two weeks ago, Shakhtar were able to return to the helm due to their superior goal difference. They comfortably saw off newly appointed Yuriy Bakalov’s FC Lviv.
Vorskla Poltava seem to be getting some of their resilience back which had helped them to a third place finish last season. They saw off Mariupol despite going a goal down. Vladyslav Kulach scored a bicycle kick in that game that is already being tipped as a contender for Goal of the Season. Down at the very bottom of the league, Arsenal Kyiv finally managed to get a point on the board after a 1-1 draw against Chornomorets Odessa. However, this is unlikely to relieve the pressure off of Ravanelli’s back as he still seeks his first win as Arsenal Kyiv manager.
This week also saw Ukrainian sides battling it out in the Champions League and Europa League play offs. Both Dynamo Kyiv and Zorya Luhansk were keen to get off to good starts against Ajax and RB Leipzig respectively. Zorya Londonsk Weekly flew out to Amsterdam to see the Dynamo game. However, along with the other travelling support, left disappointed as Dynamo succumbed to a 3-1 defeat. More in depth information on that away trip will be coming up in our next write up. On the other hand, Zorya Luhansk defended resolutely against a strong Red Bull side and secured a goalless draw against the Bundesliga team, despite being down to 10 men for most of the game. With no away goals conceded, the tie is finely poised for Zorya to get a result away next week in Leipzig. Dynamo have a lot to do if they want to overturn their 3-1 first leg defeat and avoid joining Vorskla and potentially Zorya in the Europa League groups.
Andrew Todos of Zorya Londonsk Weekly will be making predictions for every UPL game this season, against a variety of guests.
Our sixth guest of the 2018 – 19 season is Marko Husak. Marko is a Bradford born restaurateur and bar owner. He is also a big Bradford City, Dynamo Kyiv and Ukraine fan. Marko’s other passion is beer. It was his love of beer that led him to open the Sparrow in Bradford over 7 years ago with his friend Les Hall. Marko told us “We were both mad beer fans & thought that Bradford could do with a small beer focused bar. Back then ‘craft beer’ was still extremely new. It wasn’t hip or trendy. There were only 3 other bars in West Yorkshire pushing it. To put it into context, there were only 5-10 breweries in London at that time, now there are over 100.”
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| The Sparrow Bier Cafe |
With the craft beer scene having such small exposure in the early days, Marko says he knew it would be a difficult start but eventually his and Les’ persistence and determination ended up paying off, thanks in part to football. Marko explained “Bradford was, and still is in some ways, a bit of a wasteland. We opened on a quiet street near Valley Parade, Bradford City’s ground. We were the only bar there. Nobody gave us a chance and it was a quiet start. Soon the people of Bradford took to us, especially from the the city fans (and away fans) when the mighty Bantams played at home. Trade increased and more bars opened on the street. There are now 11 bars on the street. Me and Les sold the Sparrow a few months a go. The street got busier and the dynamic changed. It was time to cash our chips in and move on.” Another fine example showcasing how Football and Beer are inextricably intertwined!
Aside from The Sparrow, Marko has also ventured into the restaurant business. He is a Director at Bundobust, an Indian vegetarian street food restaurant also specializing in craft beer. Marko recalled “The idea of Bundobust was born in April 2013 when Mayur Patel from Indian restaurant Prashad asked The Sparrow if we wanted to do some beer and food pairing events. The events were successful & we decided to do something more permanent bringing Indian street food & craft beer together.”
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| Mayur Patel and Marko Husak |
As with any business it wasn’t the easiest process to turn Bundobust from an idea into its physical restaurant form and subsequent success. Marko adds “We found a cheap site in Leeds and did most of the work ourselves. At the weekend we did pop-ups & street food festivals to make money to fund the build of the restaurant. We opened in July 2014. We had a massive queue out of the door on our opening day. We started getting good reviews from day one.” Marko and Mayur have since branched out from Leeds with their Manchester restaurant having opened in December 2016 whilst a Liverpool location will be opening this winter.
Since its opening Bundobust has had glowing reviews from the likes of Jay Rayner and featured on the Vice Website. We asked Marko whether he ever imagined that the business would grow to be such a success. He replied “We always hoped it would be successful & always dreamed of getting a review in one of the broadsheets. It really kicked off for us after the Jay Rayner review in the Observer. We’re pretty much full every night & there is no looking back. Good press does help get the punters in!”
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| Adrian Chiles |
To tie in with Zorya Londonsk Weekly’s sporting and football theme, Marko was quizzed about whether he had any sporting anecdotes or famous sporting stars visit any of his establishments. “At the Sparrow we once had a 1960s Bradford City turn up on a reunion. That was nice. I once had a few drinks with ex City striker Ian Ormondroyd. Whilst at Bundobust we recently had some of the Indian cricket team in for drinks. Ex-ITV Sport and ex-One Show presenter Adrian Chiles called in for dinner once.” Apart from sporting stars, Bundobust also draws in plenty of musicians and actors. “We’ve had The National, Laura Marling, FKA Twigs, Father John Misty, Kings of Leon, to name but a few.”
Before we moved onto our chat about Ukrainian football, we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to ask Marko, with Bundobust currently opening up branches across the North of England, whether there would ever be any plans for a move down South, to London. He remains open to the idea and told us “Who knows, hopefully one day, although the rent is quite pricy down there.”
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| Viktor Tsyhankov |
With Marko being a Dynamo Kyiv fan, it was only right to kick off our football chat with him by asking how he viewed their start to the season. “It’s been a solid start in the league & they’ve done well to win their first 4 games & beat Shakhtar in the Super Cup. I fancy their chances. I just don’t know where the goals are going to come from.” Furthermore, we wanted to know who Marko saw as Dynamo’s key player, going forward in the coming season. He said “Tsyhankov for me, he is their rising star. He was good last season but I think this year he’s gonna let rip! It’s a shame about this week’s result against Ajax, I think they were unlucky but I don’t think they are going to get the result they need in Kyiv to advance to the group stage.”
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| Bradford City |
Alongside his Ukrainian team, we also wanted to know how Marko felt his hometown club, Bradford City, would fare in League One this season. Did they have it in them to better their previous campaign’s 11thplace finish? “So far we’ve won two and lost two. I feel that this mixed bag of results and inconsistent form will be the theme of City’s season. We will finish higher than 11th but will fall short of reaching the playoffs. Fans are losing faith in the German owners & our manager Michael Collins is young & inexperienced. But who knows, anything can happen in football!” Good luck to the Bantams this season!
Finally, before we move onto our UPL PREDICTOR we had to find out a bit more about Marko’s Ukrainian football experiences. We first met in France during Ukraine’s awful EURO 2016 showing and asked him to reflect back on that. “I’ve tried to blot out France 2016 out of my memory. What an embarrassment.” We couldn’t agree more. Remembering his earliest Ukrainian football memories, Marko revealed “I missed out on the Champions League games of the late 90s. I watched them on TV when they played Arsenal, Newcastle, Man United etc. but gutted that didn’t make any of the games. I remember checking Teletext for the scores.”
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| England v Ukraine – May 2000 |
Similar to our own very first Ukraine match, Marko’s was also the England v Ukraine game of May 2000 at the Old Wembley. Marko continued to tell us “Following that match, I went to the game v Wales in March 2001. My first football trip abroad was v Turkey in Kyiv in September 2005 (World Cup qualifiers). We lost 1-0. It was the only game we lost that campaign. I think we won every other game apart from that one. I remember the Olympic stadium concourse smelling like piss. It was grim but an amazing experience. A few years after I saw my first Dynamo game. They lost 3-1. A 30 something Rebrov, who had just returned from West Ham, came on off the bench to score a screamer of a goal.”
In total Marko told us that he’s seen Ukraine about 15 times & Dynamo about 5 or 6 times. He has no plans to go see any Ukraine games over the next year or so but is hoping for Dynamo to draw an English club in Europe!
Keep up to date with the latest from Marko and Bundobust via the links provided below.
MARKO’S SOCIAL LINKS:
🌐Bundobust Website
📷Marko Husak on IG
🐤Marko Husak on Twitter
🐤Bundobust on Twitter
🌏Bundobust on Facebook
🍺Jay Rayner Bundobust Review
📷Bundobust on IG
PREDICTOR TIME
A correct result (WIN / DRAW/ DEFEAT) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns an extra 40 points.
FRIDAY
Olimpik Donetsk v Shakhtar Donetsk
Todos’ prediction: Olimpik are no pushovers, however as is usually the case, Shakhtar just hold too much class for most of the league and as a result will narrowly win the game.0-2
Marko’s prediction: ‘Shakhtar will just be too strong for Olimpik’. 1-3
RESULT: 2-2: Pasich (18′), Danchenko OG (76′) / Marlos (11′), Moraes (17′,32′,75′), Stepanenko (41′)
SATURDAY
Oleksandriya v Vorskla Poltava
Todos’ prediction: Having had their long unbeaten run come to an end last weekend in Kyiv, Oleksandriya will be looking to make amends for the loss of points. However, Vorskla seem to be starting to perk up after a sub par start to the season. Neither will be able to break the other side down. 0-0
Marko’s prediction: ‘A close game but Oleksandriya will recover from their defeat to Dynamo’.1-0
RESULT: 2-0: Banada (15′,17′)
Chornomorets Odesa v Dynamo Kyiv
Todos’ prediction: Odesa used to be Yarmolenko’s favourite team to play against. Even with him no longer at the club, Dynamo should secure a comfortable win which will most probably be played at a low gear due to Khatskevich having one eye on next week’s UCL play off second leg. 0-2
Marko’s prediction: ‘Dynamo to make it five ‘1-0’ league victories in a row’. 0-1
RESULT: 1-1: Hrachev (84′) / Rusyn (59′)
SUNDAY
Mariupol v FC Lviv
Todos’ prediction: With no more Europa League to distract them, Mariupol can now well and truly focus on the league. They have some climbing to do to make sure they can return to the heights of last season. FC Lviv will be down on their luck once more. 2-1
Marko’s prediction: ‘A bottom of the table clash that will end all square.’ 2-2
RESULT: 2-2: Pikhalonok (49′), Churko (59′) / Paramonov (45+2′), Duarte (51′)
Zorya Luhansk v Desna Chernihiv
Todos’ prediction: Zorya worked their socks off in their Europa League play off first leg in midweek. They will want to preserve their energy for the second. Desna just haven’t been able to see out a win efficiently enough and as a result, Zorya will narrowly take all three points.1-0
Marko’s prediction: ‘Zorya to win relatively comfortably.’ 2-0
RESULT: 0-2: Starenkiy (11′), Bezborodko (73′)
Karpaty Lviv v Arsenal Kyiv
Todos’ prediction: Karpaty as usual have been toying with their supporters, putting in performances but only deciding to do so for one half per match. Their comeback last week from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 was impressive and they will be far too strong against a sorry Arsenal side.2-0
Marko’s prediction: ‘Karpaty to win big against bottom of the league.’ 3-0
RESULT: 1-2: Erbes (55′) / Orihovskiy (28′), Hryn (39′)
MATCHDAY 6 – H2H WINNER: MARKO
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GUEST LEADERBOARD
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Total scores after week 5
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Todos
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220
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Guests
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400
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Todos v Guests
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P6
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W2
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D0 L4
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ZORYA LONDONSK 