Last week powerful Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov accused his bitter arch-rivals of failing to respect the principles of fair play.

'The championship, in wich hitting the post would count as a goal if it's done by a player from Dynamo Kiev, can hardly be called truly interesting and worthy,' Akhmetov was quoted as saying by the Russian daily newspaper Izvestia.

'Of course, you can bribe a referee or an opponent but you can never cheat soccer fans. After each questionable win by Dynamo you could read the reaction by Dynamo fans on their website that they don't need such victories.'

But Dynamo, who have denied the charges on several occasions in the past, again brushed aside Akhmetov's claim as baseless.

'We are not going to get drawn into this useless discussion,' Dynamo spokesman Serhiy Polkhovsky told Reuters. 'We just won our ninth consecutive championship on the field of play and right now we're concentrating on preparing for a new season which starts in less than three weeks.

'So we leave these comments solely on their conscience.'

Last month Dynamo scored a controversial 1-0 win at Metalurg Zaporizhya to move ahead of Shakhtar into first place. Florin Cernat was credited with the winner but television replays later showed his shot hit the post and never crossed the goal-line before being cleared by Metalurg's defence.

HITS OUT AT SOCCER BOSS

Nevertheless, Shakhtar, who have finished second to Dynamo over the last four seasons, regained the top spot after Dynamo were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Karpaty Lviv.

The Donetsk side were poised to clinch their first-ever league title but lost two valuable points on June 11 when they were held to a 0-0 home draw by CSKA Kiev. That put Dynamo back on top.

Dynamo clinched the title on Tuesday in their final game of the season against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk by scoring two goals in a two-minute span in the last six minutes to win 2-1.

The 34-year-old Shakhtar boss, who made his money in the banking and oil business, also accused Ukrainian soccer chief Hrigory Surkis of favouring his old club Dynamo Kiev, a charge which Surkis has strongly denied in the past.

Last August Ahmetov strongly opposed Surkis's bid for the presidency of the Ukrainian Football Federation. Although formally an honorary Dynamo president, Surkis is widely seen as the man who still runs the club.