The fall season has been easy cruising for TamU-K. Apart from the match against Pelikassit, we have not really been tested so far. It all is about to change though, as the last three opponents are AC Darra, YlöR/2, and Ikurin Vire. As of now at least, these are all must wins against some of the tougher teams in our subdivision.

The match against NoPS 3 turned out to be as easy as it was supposed to be. It took less than 7 minutes to score the 1-0 goal, and about three minutes later Youcef Chemlal had scored his second goal to make it 2-0. Done. Eventually the match ended at 14-1. We got the three points that we needed, and also improved our position if anything is decided by goal differential at the end of the season. Not a lot else mattered.

The next home match is against NoPS 3, the team that we beat comfortably 2-8 in the away match in Siuro at the beginning of June. It would be easy to look past an opponent that has only managed one point in thirteen matches while conceding 92 goals. However, the reality is that even in this match victory cannot be had without putting in some real work. Indeed, even that 2-8 away victory was just 0-2 at the half, and as late as at the 73rd minute it was still only 2-4. Granted, our victory was never really in question, and the small field in Siuro benefits the fitnessly challenged NoPS 3, but nevertheless we cannot take even this match too lightly. However, if we approach the match the right way, it should be very easy to cruise into a large-margin victory.

The match against NePa Talent was different from our last match against Pelikassit in all possible ways except that we won both matches. This time the score was 4-1. Sami Kriikkula scored his first goal for Tampere United from a penalty to make it 1-0, Youcef Chemlal scored twice, and Adnan Omerovic once. And by the way, Kriikkula was the 17th player to score for TamU-K in competitive matches this season. That is an impressive statistic that tells a lot about our team.

Just as a reminder, the views expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Tampere Unitedin kannattajat (TamU-K).

Our next match is a bit of a weird one, as on Friday we are going to play an away match against NePa Talent at Kaukajärvi, our usual home field. Of course playing home and away matches on the same field is not unusual at this level, but for us Kaukajärvi has almost become a fortress, and it feels weird to be going there without the club producing match day programs or talking about who is going to take care of the sausages.

TamU-K did not have a match this weekend, so instead of the usual match previews and match reports I thought this would be a good opportunity to look into the rest of the season. Coming off from a great win over Pelikassit a week ago, we are in a great position in that we still chase Pelikassit and are in the driver’s seat against Vire, who are still hoping to catch us and the crucial second spot and a berth in the promotion playoffs.

It has not felt this good to be a Tampere United supporter in years. Today was simply put a perfect day. Not only did the team win the crucial match against Pelikassit 2-0 after a near perfect performance, but everything happening off the field matched the on-field performance too. Sinikaarti was on fire, but they were outnumbered by other Tampere United fans that had come to see the match. The sun was shining, the football was great, the singing was loud, the celebratory smoke was thick, the sausages were tasty, the coffee was refreshing, and everybody was having a great time. The attendance was announced at 106.

Our next match is the biggest of the season so far as on Saturday we meet Pelikassit, the team at the top of the table that has not dropped any points so far. This preview was supposed to be about how we need to win this match due to two reasons: firstly, if we do not win, we can forget about catching Pelikassit and earning direct promotion, and secondly, if we do not win, we no longer control our own fate in the race for the promotion playoff berth.

Today was full of excitement for me. The whole day I was looking forward to the evening, and had a hard time being productive at work. After more than five weeks of withdrawals I was going to see TamU-K play a competitive match. However, that was not to be.

The next TamU-K match kicks off on Friday at 8 pm, an away match against PiPo-79 at Ikuri in the far reaches of western Tampere. This should be an easy match for us to win as long as we remember that even in Kutonen no match can be won without a 100 % concentration and going into the match with 100 % effort. In the spring we won the home match 12-0, but we cannot expect a repeat of such a massacre to happen just like that. Even in that match the first 20 minutes before Joonas Niemelä broke the deadlock were nervous times for the supporters.