The 1987 season was the 63rd year in Guria's history and 1st season in the top tier of Soviet football. In addition to the league season, the team also participated in the 1987–88 Soviet Cup.
Overview Following their promotion from the 1986 Soviet First League the previous year, Guria made a debut in the top flight with coach Mikhail Fomenko, several new players and a hastily enlarged stadium. Unlike stadiums across the Soviet republics, it was purely a football arena which underwent a thorough reconstruction within two months in early 1987.
Spartak Moscow who were to become champions this year, began their league campaign at Guria. Having earned a single point in the opening three games, Guria recorded their first top-division victory in round 4 with Merab Megreladze scoring a historic goal against Kairat on 3 April. It was evident though that the team would struggle to retain a place in the league. By mid-season, the Gurians had found themselves rooted to the bottom of the table, winning just one out of eight games held in the summer.
In July, Guria entered the cup competition as well. The team breezed past 2nd division side Rotor at home and took an early lead in the return leg, but conceded three late goals to lose on away goals.
Back in the league, Guria produced an unbeaten run in September (2W, 2D), although failure to beat fellow strugglers CSKA cost them dearly. As a relegation dogfight heated up, they first suffered a 2–0 defeat from Dinamo Tbilisi on 3 October and then went on to lose all remaining matches one after another.
Guria proved yet again to be a home team, beating their rivals in Lanchkhuti only, but a dreadful away form (four points in 15 games) determined their immediate return to the First League.
Statistics Top League Standings (part) + Pos Team PLD W D L GF–GA Pts 12 Kairat 30 10 6 14 27–38 26 13 Dinamo Tbilisi 309 7 14 31–40 25 14 Zenit 307 10 13 25–37 24 15 CSKA (R) 30 7 11 12 26–35 24 16 Guria (R) 30 5 8 17 18–38 18
Matches
Appearances and goals Pos. Player Age0GK Ivan Beradze 18 1 –0GK Gigla Imnadze 32 16 –0GK Avtandil Kantaria 32 15 –0DF Gennadi Bondaruk 23 8 00DF Badri Danelia 25 9 00DF Alexandr Kondratiev 25 4 00DF Nugzar Mikaberidze 24 24 00DF Alexandr Prikhodko 21 2 00DF Merab Tevzadze 23 16 00MF Gocha Tkebuchava 24 27 00DF Davit Tsomaia 20 10 10DF Alexey Varnavsky 30 7 10MF Teimuraz Chkhaidze 32 18 10MF Vakhtang Kopaleishvili 33 24 10MF Malkhaz Arziani 23 15 00FW Gia Jishkariani 20 11 10MF Tariel Kapanadze 25 2 00MF Malkhaz Makharadze 24 18 00MF Nikolay Romanchuk 26 13 00MF Enuki Tevzadze 28 29 20FW Murman Akopyan 29 19 20FW Kakhaber Gogichaishvili 19 5 00FW Irakli Imnadze 19 1 00MF Avtandil Kapanadze 25 2 00FW Roman Khagba 23 2 00FW Viktor Khlus 29 30 50FW Merab Megreladze 30 20 10FW Besik Pridonashvili 26 21 30FW Grigol Tsaava 25 9 0 Source:
Soviet Cup
Guria lost on away goals rule References
External links Soviet First League