The Soviet Cup should have been special this year – it was the 40th tournament. But the final was seen as particularly promising – Spartak (Moskva) vs SKA (Rostov). Not a big, dramatic final fit for the occasion – the winner was certain. Spartak was much stronger and playing at home in Moscow. SKA… they just lost 7 matches in a row and were at the bottom of the table. Predictions were right – Spartak was expected to attack, having lively technical style. SKA was expected to saturate its own half with defenders, hoping for occasional counter-attack. That precisely happened on the pitch and was only a matter of time Spartak to start scoring. But they were missing the target… the lowest point of their impotence came in the 35th minute, when Mirzoyan missed a penalty. SKA managed a few counter-attacks, but nothing really dangerous. The second half was similar, except that both teams minded their net and the tempo became sluggish – killing time was more important than trying to win outright. Still Spartak was more active and dangerous.
Yury Gavrilov with the ball and Sergey Shavlo at his left side ready to help – Spartak was attacking, SKA was defending, the game was boring… Until the 84th minute.
If there was danger to Spartak, it came from Zavarov and Andreev. In one of their not so many counter-attacks SKA passed the ball to their key striker, Spartak defenders were late, and Sergey Andreev scored. 1-0. Six minutes were not enough for equalizing and the result stayed. Spartak lost.
The unthinkable happened – SKA’s captain Pavel Lossev received the cup. Big smile, of course.
SKA (Rostov) made their run of triumph.
Sensational cup winners SKA (Rostov). Crouching, from left:V. Berezin, A. Vorobyov, P. Gussev. S. Andreev, V. Degtyarev, I. Gamula, A. Zavarov.
Standing: A. Andryushchenko, P. Shubin – assistant coach, V. Goncharov, V. Fedotov – coach, N. Kuryatnikov, V. Zuev, V. Radaev, N. Romanchuk, A. Yashin, A. Ivanov – assistant coach.
Happy winners, proving miracles happen from time to time. Forget the unattractive final – see the trophy, making this squad instantly the greatest in the history of the club: SKA never before or after 1981 won a trophy. They also wrote a new chapter in the amusing history of Soviet football – there was already a second division team winning the Cup. Karpaty (Lvov) did that, but they also won promotion at the same year. There was particularly lowly finalist once, which never played first division football, but Krasnaya Presnya did not win. Now there was a winner going down to second division – the final was early in the season, but SKA was seen as relegated already. Since the winners were not a team to brag about, more trivia: Zavarov won his very first trophy. It will be not the last, but not with SKA. Zuev, on the other hand, added one more to his biography – he was champion and cup winner with Dinamo (Kiev) and not only once, if only by default, for he was generally a reserve player in Kiev. A pleasant moment for Andreev, who deserved a trophy not only because he scored the winning goal – he was one of the best strikers at this time and regular national team player, but playing for lowly SKA had no chance to collect silverware. At last something – and that was all he won on club level. Great success for the young coach Vladimir Fedotov, not long ago a national team star and used to winning – now as a coach as well. The rest… the rest is just general: it is always nice to see the underdog winning against the odds.