Former S.K.A. coach **Sergey Cherkas** commented on the army club’s defeat to “Spartak” (1:3).

“At the start of the match, it seemed to me that ‘Spartak’ was not moving well. Until the end of the second period, S.K.A. had the advantage, which was reflected in the score. However, after Spartak scored two quick goals, their level of play significantly improved. The reason for S.K.A.’s latest loss lies elsewhere – having just one strong forward line is not enough. I’m talking about Vorobyov, Zykov, and Khairullin. The contribution from the other players was completely unnoticeable.

In recent matches, S.K.A. started off leading but failed to secure the win. It seems to me that the team simply lacks physical stamina in the third period. For some reason, their pace drops, leading to unnecessary penalties. S.K.A. begins matches strong but finishes weakly. There’s a significant drop in performance and fatigue sets in. This is something the coaches should explain – why S.K.A. can’t close out games in the third period? I believe it’s because only one and a half lines are performing at their best. When the entire team plays together effectively, these performance dips don’t occur. One line alone cannot make the difference,” Cherkas said, as quoted by “Sovetsky Sport.”