Vida propels Dynamo to Ukrainian Cup glory

FC Dynamo Kyiv brought an end to their five-year wait for a domestic trophy by beating FC Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 in the Ukrainian Cup final, staged in Poltava.

Recently-crowned champions Shakhtar were the pre-match favourites, but lost for a sixth time against Dynamo in a domestic cup final, falling behind on 40 minutes when Olexandr Kucher directed Domagoj Vida's shot into his own net. The Croatian managed to squeeze in a second goal before the interval as he connected with Miguel Veloso's set-piece delivery, but while Dynamo kept pushing after the break, they were pegged back by Douglas Costa's strike on 57 minutes.

However, there were to be no further goals as the capital side – who finished a disappointing fourth in the league – claimed their record tenth Ukrainian Cup under the leadership of stand-in coach Serhiy Rebrov, who was among the players who won the trophy for the first time with Dynamo in 1993.

"We have all been waiting for this victory," said Rebrov, at 39 the youngest coach to have won the trophy. "The players needed it to believe in themselves. I was surprised myself by the way we played in the first half. It has been a long time since we played so confidently against Shakhtar. I'm grateful to players for that display."

"The season is almost over," added team captain Olexandr Shovkovskiy. We'll analyse it and our results, but we deserved this trophy for sure. We were clearly better than Shakhtar in every respect. The cup is not coming to Kyiv for nothing."