The 1989 season was the 65th year in Guria's history and 2nd successive season in the 2nd tier of Soviet football. In addition to the league season, the team also participated in the 1989–90 Soviet Cup.
Overview Guria's 1989 season pretty much resembled the previous one. After a single win in the opening six matches, they found themselves in the 17th place, only in two-point distance from the relegation zone. The team quickly recovered from this blow, producing a seven-game unbeaten run and, overall, eleven wins in next 15 games. As a result, they finished the half-season 3rd, sharing the points with Kairat. These two teams, along with CSKA, competed for the first two spots this season. The latter, being Guria's bitter rivals for the last four seasons in both 1st and 2nd divisions, ended their head-to-head unbeaten streak on 9 May in Lanchkhuti.
Guria were more convincing in the remaining period than a year earlier, losing only twice in 21 matches. After round 25, they moved into the promotion zone for the first time. The team was rampant in the closing stage of the season with six successive wins. On 2 November, Guria beat Pakhtakor in front of 22,000 celebrating spectators to seal their second promotion in four years.
In the cup, Guria reached the 3rd round to face a top-tier side from Ukraine again. Despite a home win, they suffered a narrow aggregate defeat to Shakhtyor Donetsk and crashed out of the tournament. Overall, Guria displayed a flawless home record with 22 wins in as many official games.
The team was unable to reap the fruits of their 1989 successful league campaign. In the aftermath of 9 April, Georgia began moving away politically from the Soviet Union, becoming the first republic to announce withdrawal from the Soviet-run competitions in February 1990. Guria's eleven players also signed a petition supporting this decision in advance.
Statistics Standings (part) + Pos Team PLD W D L GF–GA Pts 1 CSKA 4227 105 113–28 64 2 Guria 42 27 9 6 78–39 63 3 Kairat 42 23 9 10 75–39 55 4 Dinamo Stavropol 4219 12 11 57–46 50 5 Fakel 42 19 11 12 54–36 49 Source
Matches
Appearances and goals Pos. Player AgeGK Mamuka Abuseridze 27 38 –GK Avtandil Kantaria 34 6 –DF Enriko Berishvili 18 3 0DF Bagrat Chaduneli 23 2 0DF Badri Danelia 27 40 0DF Temur Kabisashvili 22 31 0DF Murtaz Khurtsilava 32 1 0DF Sergey Kuznetsov 29 23 0DF Mykhaylo Olefirenko 29 42 0DF Gocha Tkebuchava 26 35 0DF Davit Tsomaia 22 42 1DF Davit Sanikidze 24 1 0MF Levan Baratashvili 25 16 1MF Merab Jordania 29 39 25MF Otar Korgalidze 29 38 6MF Merab Tevzadze 25 27 2FW Aleksandr Dozmorov 27 37 10FW Gia Guruli 25 40 18FW Viktor Khlus 31 1 0FW Mikheil Meskhi 28 10 2FW Besik Pridonashvili 28 41 10FW Davit Ugrelidze 25 23 3 Source:
Soviet Cup
References
External links Soviet First League