1964 FC Dnipro Kremenchuk season

The 1964 season was Dnipro Kremenchuk's 2nd year in the Ukrainian Class B, a Soviet football competition in the Soviet third tier. In addition to the domestic league, Dnipro also participated in this season's editions of the Soviet Cup and Cup of Central Committee of Leninist Communist League of Youth of Ukraine. Managed by Mykola Melnychenko, they finished forty-first in the combined championship table. They were eliminated from both cups in their first matches. The season covers the period from 1 January 1964 to 31 December 1964.

Pre-season
On 18 January 1964, the Avtobudivnyk newspaper described Sadovskyi and his coaches as holding experiments that negatively impacted most games in 1963 and led to the team finishing in last place. New coaches were hired, and emphasis was made on young prospects. Veterans of the team such as Mykola Prymostka, Hennadii Poryshkin, Viktor Yefimenko and others were retained. With the addition of five Belarusian and three Moldavian clubs to the Ukrainian zone, the league was split into three zones this year. Dnipro was placed in Zone 2 with three teams from the Moldavian SSR. Valerii Lulko was one of the players to join the club, previously having played at Zirka Kirovohrad. Dnipro planned their preseason camp to begin 4 March in Bushtyno, Zakarpattia Oblast. Mykola Melnychenko was revealed as the head coach and the team moved to Berehove to continue their preseason. Hryhorii Miroshnyk, a former manager, joined as an assistant to Melnychenko. Goalkeepers Yurii Semchenko and Serhii Morozov, defenders and forwards: Ihor Burenkov, Vladyslav Soroka, Volodymyr Robarovskyi, Stanislav Yaroshenko and I. Petrov also joined Dnipro. The club set a goal to finish the season mid-table.

April
Season began with three away games. On 12 April Dnipro played Stroitel Bălți. The match ended in a 2–0 loss. Next week Dnipro lost 3–0 to Nistrul Bender. On the twenty-second Dnipro traveled to Avanhard Chernivtsi. That match was part of the 1964 Soviet Cup. Dnipro started the game strongly, forcing the opposition goalkeeper to make early saves. However, Avanhard players slowly took the initiative and were first to score. By the hour mark they scored two more. Viktor Stupak scored the only goal for the visitors and Dnipro lost 3–1. On the twenty-sixths Dnipro played their first home game against Luchaferul Tiraspol. It was an even game with both teams equally attacking. Visitors were first to score. Prymostka scored with three minutes remaining to draw the game.

May
On 2 May Dnipro hosted Budivelnyk Kherson. Visiting team was more persistent and scored the only goal of the game. Four days later Dnipro hosted Shakhtar Oleksandriia. The game started with Dnipro pleasing their players with quick tempo and good tactics. Playing with two strikers payed off, as visiting defenders were always under pressure. Three minutes after the start forced visitors to concede a corner, through which Viktor Stupak scored. In the fourteenth minute he had an assist as Prymostka scored. Eight minutes later Prymostka added another goal. Right before the end of the first half, the visitors managed to pull back one goal. In the second half Prymoska scored again. As the visitor already lost the game, they began attacking more and scored another goal. Shakhtar was not happy with the refereeing and filed a protest. Four days later Dnipro traveled to play Dunayets Izmail. They could not score and lost 1–0. On 16 May Dnipro was in Kyiv to play SKA Kyiv. Both teams started the game with attacks. In the second half SKA replaced their forwards and this brought the desired results. Bazhenov scored in the seventieth minute. Dnipro players kept attacking and succeeded through Prymostka ten minutes later. With one minute remaining Dnipro goalkeeper Semchenko dropped the ball and Sukovitsyn scored to give SKA victory. Another loss happened away to Chayka Balaklava on 20 May. Dnipro chose 4–3–3 formation and played very defensively. However, a rare counterattack gave Dnipro the lead. Chayka players kept attacking and were awarded twenty-two corners. Towards the end a Dnipro defender handled the ball and Smirnov scored his penalty kick, Three minutes later Chayka defender scored a second goal and won the game. Two days later more than fifteen thousand spectators gathered to watch Dnipro and Dynamo Kyiv play. Dynamo players were pressing and attacking all game and scored three times. A few minutes before the end of the game Prymoska managed to score for Dnipro. On the twenty-fourth Dnipro hosted Kolhospnyk Cherkasy. Since it rained the whole day, the pitch turned to bog. Visitors played short passing game and Dnipro played long balls to forwards Stupak and Prymostka. Heavy rain returned in the second half and both teams were attacking. Robarovskyi was successful and his goal gave Dnipro its second victory. Both teams had a player sent-off. On 30 May Dnipro traveled to Avanhard Chernivtsi. Dnipro chose a very defensive 6-2-2 formation. This proved unsuccessful as hosts scored three minutes into the second half and won the game.

June
The first match in June brought Dnipro one more point. On 3 June neighboring team Kolhospnyk Poltava came to Kremenchuk to play in a first official match between the teams. Kolhospnyk chose to sit back for the first twenty minutes and then began attacking. The match became more aggressive, and the official did not manage to control the game. Yaroshenko was sent-off in the first half for Dnipro. Visitor also lost a player for arguing with the referee. Visitor defender Klusovych replaced an injured player and was also sent-off a minute later for a bad tackle on Prymostka who left the field injured. Both teams finished the game with nine man. Next day Dnipro hosted Metalurh Zaporizhzhia in a friendly match. Visitors scored four goals and won the game. Three days later Dnipro played away at Lokomotyv Vinnytsia. Lokomotyv was third in the league and Dnipro fourteenth. Lokomotyv easily controlled the game, however they were unable to break down Dnipro defense. Yefimenko was sent-of for Dnipro after thirty-five minutes after a bad tackle. After sending-off, Dnipro players broke down and were unable to do anything constructive. Locomotyv players scored three times in the second half and easily won the match. On the thirteenth Dnipro hosted Sudnobudivnyk Mykolaiv one of league leaders. Dnipro began the game with attacks. However, their usual inability to keep the ball in the final third prevented them from scoring. They lost the match 1:0. Four days later Dnipro went to Zirka Kirovohrad. The match was a 6:3 loss. On 21 June Prymostka failed to score a penalty kick and Dnipro had to settle for a 0:0 draw with Avanhard Zhovti Vody. After playing each opponent once, Dnipro was in fifteenth place in the league. On the twenty-eight Dnipro faced Stroitel Bălți. The visitors scored and early goal and Stupak equalized near the hour mark. Akopov doubled the lead and brought Dnipro its third win.

July
On 4 July Dnipro hosted Nistrul Bender. Both teams won their previous match. In the pregame interview manager Melnychenko stated that his team will only attack. Boichenko was the first to score in the thirty-third minute. He doubled the lead in the second half with Yefimenko adding another goal ten minutes later. Six minutes before the final whistle visitors pulled one goal back. Four days later Dnipro traveled to Luchaferul Tiraspol. Both teams defended equally great which made any attacking attempts fruitless. Match finished with a 0:0 draw. In another four days Dnipro traveled to Budivelnyk Kherson. Budivelnyk attackers were not very successful in prior games. In this game they had more luck. First half was goalless, however early after the restart Dnipro defender brought down an opposition attacker. Another striker stepped up to take the penalty and give the lead to Budivelnyk. Later another Budivelnyk striker scored. Dnipro had their first loss in five matches. On the eighteenth Dnipro had its third away match at Shakhtar Oleksandriia. Dnipro lost the match 4:0. On the twenty-second Dnipro hosted Dunayets Izmail. The visitors began the match aggressively and conceded a second-minute penalty. Burenkov scored and forced the visitors to reply with a series of attacks which were not successful due to nervousness of the attackers. With one minute left in the first half Akopov scored by sending the ball into the top corner. In the seventieth minute Huzikov made the score 3:0. This gave Dnipro confidence in victory, and they became careless. Visitors took advantage of this and scored five minutes later. A few minutes later they scored another goal when Klimanov substitute goalkeeper let the ball slip between his hands. With time running out visitors were unable to level the game, giving Dnipro its fifth win of the season. Captain Prymostka had a very weak game which led supporters heckle him and other players. Four days later Dnipro hosted Avanhard Chernivtsi. Dnipro went into the game needing a win. They had a chance to take the lead in the forty-fourth minute. Akopov failed to score and eventually visitors took the lead in the sixty-ninth minute and won the game.

August
On 1 August Dnipro hosted SKA Kyiv. SKA who were zone leaders easily defeated Dnipro, scoring five goals. Four days later Dnipro traveled to Kolhospnyk Cherkasy. The team again was unsuccessful and lost 2:0. On 9 August Dnipro defeated visitors Chayka Balaklava 1:0 with Boichenko providing the winning goal. On the fifteenth Dnipro traveled to their neighbors Kolhospnyk Poltava. This time refereeing was much better. Kolhospnyk began much quicker than Dnipro and was rewarded with a goal in the third minute. In the thirty-sixth minute Kolhospnyk doubled the lead. Third goal was scored by former Dnipro player Yurii Yachniev. Dnipro conceded one more goal without troubling the opposition. Four days later Dnipro drew 1:1 with Lokomotyv Vinnytsia at home. Both teams needed a win as Dnipro was in the last place and Lokomotyv was battling for second place. Dnipro players were playing long balls again and opposition defenders had no problems clearing those. In the last minute of the first half Kuzmmychov scored to give Dnipro the lead. After the break Dnipro player tried to extend their lead, however they were not successful and Lokomotyv managed to equalize with eleven minutes remaining. Dnipro played its last home game of the regular season on 23 August against Zirka Kirovohrad. Visitors were the first to score after a defensive mistake by Lulko in the first half. Stupak scored from a free-kick in the second half. He scored again in the seventy-eighth minute to give Dnipro its seventh win. During the week between the league games, Dnipro played a friendly game with Combined Moscow Veterans team. The difference in technical ability of both teams was clearly visible as visiting defenders easily dealt with any attacking attempts by Dnipro. Halfway through the first half, the visitors scored their first goal. Dnipro players struggled to keep up with the pace of veterans who scored another goal. On 29 August Dnipro played away at Sudnobudivnyk Mykolaiv. The hosts scored three times and Dnipro only one through Platitsyn.

September
On 5 September Dnipro lost 2:0 in an away match to Avanhard Zhovti Vody. The hosts played much better than the Dnipro players. Kushnyrskyi was sent off for hitting an opposition player. Dnipro was in the sixteenth place after the final match. On 13 September Dnipro traveled to Shakhtar Horlivka to play in the 1964 Cup of Central Committee of Leninist Communist League of Youth of Ukraine. Dnipro was unsuccessful and lost 4:0. Dnipro began their play-off games for the 37—41 spot on nineteenth, traveling to Burevisnyk Melitopol. Dnipro began the match with high energy and were rewarded with an early goal in the fifteenth minute. The hosts then scored from a corner kick. In the second half Tambovtsev scored two goals in one minute to make the final score 3–1. Four days later Dnipro drew 0–0 at home with Torpedo Kharkiv.

October
On 3 October Dnipro at home drew 1–1 with Azovstal Zhdanov. Four days later Dnipro lost 2–1 to Dniprovets Dniprodzerzhynsk. Local newspaper noted that Dnipro was playing much better in the second stage than in the first. On the eleventh Dnipro hosted Burevisnyk Melitopol. Visitors were able to score twice, with Dnipro unable to respond. Three days later Torpedo Kharkiv defeated Dnipro 3–0. On the eighteenth Dnipro finally won against Dniprovets Dniprodzerzhynsk. It was a narrow 1–0 win, where Dniprovets had a player sent-off. Dnipro played a friendly match with Dnipro Kremenchuk HES in Svitlovodsk. The outcome of the math was not recorded. The last match of the stage was played on 31 October. Dnipro played away with Azovstal Zhdanov. Dnipro was unable to score once more, not registering a single shot on goal during the game. It finished with a 2–0 loss. Dnipro occupied the bottom spot finishing forty-first in the combined league table.

End of season
Dnipro had a very unsuccessful season, at times playing very well and failing at others. Dnipro remained in the league. Toward the end of season, Dnipro played a few friendly matches to help see potential first team players. A new coach Hennadii Rudynskyi joined the team from Zirka Kirovohrad. Dnipro played one more friendly in December with a local team Avanhard Kremenchuk. It finished 1–1.

Team kit
The team did not have a special kit, using various kits. The most common kit was a yellow shirt and light blue shorts. Other shirt colors used were red, white, light blue and orange. The shorts were blue, white and light blue.

Pre-season and friendlies
In preseason Dnipro won against a team from Izhevsk, drew multiple matches and lost to SKA Lviv.


 * Results list Dnipro's goal tally first.

Results summary
Point total was 19, as 2 point for win were awarded.

Zone 2
The league fixtures were announced on 25 March 1964. Second round fixtures were released on 27 June 1964.


 * Results list Dnipro's goal tally first.

Second stage
The second stage took part from 19 September to 31 October. Dnipro faced Dniprovets Dniprodzerzhynsk, Torpedo Kharkiv, Burevisnyk Melitopol and Azovstal Zhdanov to determine final standing in the league for places 37 to 41.

Results summary
Point total was 4, as 2 points for win were awarded.

Places 37–41

 * Results list Dnipro's goal tally first.

Soviet Cup
Out of 48 class B clubs from Ukraine, Belarus and Moldavia only 3 were permitted into the final stage of the cup. 48 teams were split into three groups. Dnipro was assigned to second group. Cup calendar was released on 25 March. Dnipro was scheduled to play Avanhard Chernivtsi on 23 April. If case of a win their next match was scheduled for 29 April and 13 May.

Appearances and goals
First squad list was published on 1 April 1963. Known appearances include all competitions (League, Cup, Cup of Central Committee and play-off matches. Known Squad Numbers are listed, numbers in are also known numbers for players during the season. Some games only have partial records provided by Pyrukhin. Mykola Prymostka was the team captain. In his absence Valerii Lulko was the captain in four league matches.

24 goals were scored in the league. Both Stupak and Prymostka have 6 goals given to them. Pyrukhin states that in two matches in rounds 3 and 14 both had one goal. However another source states that each of them could be the correct scorer in a different match or both matches. Stupak was the only scorer in the Cup match. All four play-off goalscorers are unknown. Mykola Prymostka scored a hat-trick against Shakhtar Oleksandriia on 6 May 1964.

The plus (+) symbol denotes an appearance as a substitute, hence 2+1 indicates two appearances in the starting XI and one appearance as a substitute.