After the defeat in the decisive match of the Continental Cup Super Final, the HC Donbass Head Coach Aleksandr Kulikov tried to analyze the course of the game, answering media questions.
- It was a game worthy of a final. We were very well prepared, and the players had a very good game in the first period. We outplayed the rivals in all areas and had 7 or 8 chances, unfortunately with no goals. We made major mistakes in the second period, and our opponents took advantages of it. Afterwards with the score 0:2, we tried our best, scored a goal, missed again, scored the second goal and we were about even in the match. We opened up too early, but, with the score 2:3, had some good moments to level the score. We lacked luck in some way, in some situations the opposition goalkeeper played excellently. They were more lucky than we. And at the end of the match we opened up entirely, ran to score a goal and the French players punished us for it. It is just a sport. And we must make the right decisions out of this game. Life goes on. We must move forward. It goes without saying that we wanted to win, but we didn’t manage for the first time.
- How deep is the disappointment?
- Its deep enough. There are claims for the players. There are in fact in the winning. Coming home we will think back to the game. We will study it out and we will move forward. You know that there is no success and development without failure. The fact that we reached the Final, won two games out of three - it is an honour but it is a pity that in an evenly matched game with a team that we should have been able to beat, we lost. It is vexing. But anyway everybody tried his best. There is no claim concerning feedback. We combined all our strengths, but bad luck and lack of goals played a crucial role.
- As for the third place – is it an achievement or a failure?
- I don’t consider it a failure. We won two games, but the number of goals determined everything. It is not a failure. If we lost two or three games, we would think of it in that way.
Press Service of HC "Donbass"
