Dynamo continued their winning streak in the game against Ryazan-VDV

Starting the fall with a vague game in Samara, where a hard-fought draw was achieved, Dynamo began to pick up speed. A home victory over Yenisey, followed by a successful away trip to Chertanovo, allowed the Dynamo team to feel more confident not only on the field but also in the standings. Before Saturday's meeting with Ryazan-VDV, the gap from the newly minted winner of the Winline Cup of Russia, Lokomotiv, was five points.

It seems not so little, especially given the remaining short distance of the championship - most teams have five matches left. On the other hand, for the three teams leading the fight for bronze, the calendar for the rest of the season is not that much different in terms of difficulty. Dynamo, for example, will face CSKA and Spartak at the end, Spartak will play against Dynamo and Lokomotiv, and Loko will meet Spartak and CSKA. In general, plus or minus, the final stretch for the three contenders for the bronze medals is comparable.

Hence, conclusions: firstly, a lot will be decided in direct encounters between teams, secondly, in games with teams from the lower half of the standings, so to speak. And apart from an unfortunate slip-up in Samara, Dynamo has been coping well with the second part of the task so far. Moreover, their opponents in this part are not without sin either: Loko played a goalless draw with the same Wings, at home, while Spartak drew 0-0 away against Yenisey

In many ways, this helped the blue and white get close to the top three, which until recently seemed like a hopeless task. Well, the main thing now is not to lose what was acquired through hard work in the last calendar month. And then it's up in the air. As we understand perfectly well, everything can turn out absolutely unpredictably in Dynamo's case.

Let's take the match against Ryazan-VDV that took place on Saturday. It would seem that 4 wins in 4 previous matches should have indicated that the team from Ryazan is if not a convenient opponent for Dynamo, then at least understandable and predictable. But the course of the specific match showed that you cannot be sure even in the most obvious situations

The opening of the game was marked by a series of set pieces performed by Ryazan-VDV. Knowing how the Ryazan team can use them, it became alarming from the first minutes. However, everything turned out fine.

Overall, the visitors looked more interesting at the beginning of the game. In the first five minutes, our girls got to Ryazan's goal only once, and it wasn't very dangerous. But by the 10th minute, the situation had changed dramatically: Dynamo gained a clear advantage in terms of chances, but as usual, it was difficult to convert them. At least one of the two chances should have ended with a goal for the blue-whites, when the defender of Ryazan-VDV cleared Tijana Matić's shot literally from the goal line.

The series of missed opportunities continued throughout most of the first half. Occasionally, the guests snapped back, but Dynamo's defense acted clearly and accurately.

It became alarming again for our team's game towards halftime, when both teams' play became sluggish, and Dynamo players had too many losses and mistakes in passing.

Sergei Lavrentiev's team even temporarily changed tactics: instead of meaningful positional attacks that previously led to dangerous moments near Maria Zamanakova's goal, they started testing the Ryazan goalkeeper with long shots. Frankly, it didn't work very effectively

With the thoughts that something needs to change in their game, especially in attack, the blue-and-white went into the break

And as has happened more than once in matches involving our team, the second half was the absolute opposite of the first.

It's worth noting right away that there were hardly so many chances created by the white-blue team in one half this season. The funny thing is that the opponents scored first in this situation. Which is also very typical for Dynamo this season. Moreover, the Ryazan women did it twice. Yes, exactly. First, the striker of Ryazan-VDV literally pushed the ball into our goal together with the goalkeeper Diana Ponomareva, which, of course, could not be counted. And then, just five minutes later, they scored according to all the rules. After a corner kick, Victoria Dubova, who was the most agile in the Dynamo penalty area, sent the ball into the goal of our team with the help of Maria Galay.

After such a knockdown, we had to quickly recover. This was largely due to the substitution made by the Dynamo coaching staff — instead of Galina Gabeeva, Lamunat Mustafaeva appeared on the field. And the game immediately changed!

Again, there was a carousel of moments, approaches to the penalty area and the opponent's goal, long and medium shots, and, of course, set pieces. In one of the attacks, Helena Bozic, who ran to take a corner kick, was stopped in the Ryazan penalty area only with a foul. The penalty was clearly executed by Elina Samoilova, who immediately ran away with the ball to the center circle. It was clear that a draw would not suit Dynamo in this match!

The final 20 minutes of the game were a real test for the Ryazan team and Dynamo fans' nerves. Moments followed one after another, but there was no goal.

But, knowing Dynamo, we just had to wait for added time. In the 90+1st minute, Kaylan Williams, who started the match as a central defender and finished it as a center forward, literally brushed the ball with the top of her head after a pass from Maria Digurova and... put Dynamo ahead! A miracle? No, it's just that this match couldn't have ended any other way.

At the end of the match in Novogorsk, Dynamo overtook Spartak in the standings and was only two points behind third place. It seems that the end of the season promises to be as exciting as Saturday's match against Ryazan-VDV.

For full information on starting lineups and events of the meeting, see the match center .