Promotion felt inevitable the whole season long, and it makes sense that we took the final step with a crushing victory over the only team that was able to mount any sort of resistance on the table. A 1-7 (1-3) victory away at Viiala leaves no questions to be asked. We were by far the best team this season and thoroughly deserved our promotion. The only complaint that I can think of is that promotion was a bit too inevitable, and it does not feel as awesome as it did last year. But to make that complaint would be quite unreasonable, wouldn’t it?

For me things started on Friday with a quick pint of beer in the pub at the railway station, then a twenty-minute train ride to Viiala. As we exited the train in Viiala, I counted 50 supporters, and by the time the match started, I think we must have counted around 60-70. A good showing for us.

In Viiala we first took over a bar and a nearby grassy area in the center of the city. As I was standing outside, it seemed heads were turning in every car that passed by. The sleepy little town probably does not get something like this every year. For us it was just good times among friends, mixed with a bit of nervous anticipation. As the match got closer, we marched about one kilometer to the stadium, and once we got there, we put on a show that won’t be soon forgotten by those who witnessed it.

The match itself had barely started when it was already over. TamU-K came with tremendous intensity, and after 20 minutes of play the score was already 0-3. ViiPV had barely been able to get out of their own half, and on the few occasions when they did, it seemed to always be a counter attack by their speedy right winger. Usually there was nobody for him to pass to, and when there was, our defence took care of business with hundred per cent efficiency.

The first two goals were scored by Mika Kytöviita, the second match in a row with two goals for him. This is the form he expected from himself before the season, and it is great to see it finally materialize. Even without a lot of goals he has been a key player for us in many matches, but strikers live from goals. And when I say not a lot, that’s in comparison to expectations. Eight goals in 16 matches is not such a bad tally, but six goals in seven matches in the pre-season had put everybody’s expectations very high.

The only negative things of the day happened just after the half-hour mark, when Timo Kauppinen missed a penalty, and almost immediately afterwards ViiPV got their lucky 1-3 goal from a free-kick just outside the box. It was a deflection off the wall, when goalie Ilkka Innola had already gone the other way. For a brief moment I thought things might get tighter, but those worries were completely unfounded.

Instead, the rest of the match continued to be in our total control, and with four second half goals we dominated the scoreboard as well. Ahmed Lakra scored the 1-4 goal that removed any doubt that anybody could have still had. It was his first of the season too, and I was very happy for him. Its been a tough season for him, struggling with injuries, and I know that scoring in this match means a lot to him. It was a typical goal for him, taking on a couple defenders and forcing himself from the left wing to a goal-scoring position. Ahmed is now the 18th player to score for us in competitive matches this season.

The next couple goals were scored by Timo Kauppinen. Talk about a good way to redeem a missed penalty. Later the final 1-7 goal was scored by Jan Irjala, making the competition for the top scorer this season extremely tight. Jacin Dakkaki, Mika Kytöviita, Timo Kauppinen, and Jan Irjala are all now within one goal with just two matches left to play.

As I predicted, the team played their best when the stakes were high. They came onto the field prepared to kill, and kill they did. Perhaps over the course of the season many of our players had at times had to dig deep to find motivation when they were facing a team that was known to be clearly inferior. There were no such problems this time around, and the result was evidence of the quality of this team.

At the final whistle the inevitable happened: pitch invasion! In this club the players and supporters are one, and the celebration belongs to everybody. We are United, and we plan to take this spirit up the Finnish football pyramid. Always United.

The party then continued on a march back to the bar in Viiala, on the epic train ride back to Tampere, and in the bars of our home city. Somebody might have felt sorry for the poor folks who got stuck on the same train with us, but I was not one of them.

Next season is already looking very interesting indeed. It is too early to tell for sure which teams will play in Nelonen next year, but it does look like we will have a bit more travel than we did this year. That is a challenge for the club, but only positive for the supporters. There’s also going to be a few match-ups that will stand out from the calendar. Urjalan Palloseura is one of those, as they do have organized support and a very active club altogether. Locally the two teams fighting for promotion in the parallel Vitonen subdivision would be interesting match-ups, albeit for very different reasons. And of course there is a chance that both FC Melody and the second team of Ilves will get promoted.

The big discussion in the next weeks and months is whether or not promotion will be our goal next season too. My view on the matter is that it would not make sense to not try to build a team that has a chance at promotion. However, Nelonen is a much tougher division than Vitonen, and unless we get exceptional reinforcements to the team, we need to approach next season a bit more humbly than declaring in October that we have promotion as our goal. However, if we are not one of the candidates for promotion when the season starts, something has gone wrong in the off-season. My prediction is that we will get 8-10 new players, and they all better be superior to the ones they will replace. There seems to be a lot of interest in playing for us next season, so improving the team should come naturally.

Next season there won’t be unlimited in-and-out substitutions like we have had this season still. This means that conditioning will play a bigger role, and that all players must be ready for 90 minutes. And even though full seven substitutions are still allowed, the dynamics of the team will be affected by the fact that the coaches can no longer guarantee playing time for everybody.

But right now we can revel in the fact that we again made a big statement as a club. Two straight promotions answers a lot of questions. A year ago people were still asking if we were serious, and we stopped those questions with our first promotion. Now with this second one we have shown that we are actually capable of doing the things that we said we were going to do. The challenges that lie ahead are getting bigger and bigger, but so is our club. This upcoming off-season will hopefully take very concrete new steps in that direction.