Yesterday we had for the first time in a long time as many as four first-team players on the bench for a training match, and the result was seven goals scored in an easy 7-0 (4-0) victory over the second team of Ilves. The match was played in Kauppi, the first outdoors match for us this spring. The metaphor about young horses on spring pasture came to my mind as the team scored three goals in less than 15 minutes. During and after the match it was great to see the goal-scorers’ faces shine. Some of these goals were real beauties too.

This was our second straight victory. A week earlier we had beaten NePa in the last match of the Nelonen Winter League. That match ended 1-0 with a second half goal by Jacin Dakkaki, and secured the second place for us on the league table. PP-70 ended up winning the tournament, having not lost any of their matches.

Of course the final position in the Nelonen Winter League table means next to nothing as these were just training matches. However, winning a match and even just scoring a goal after having lost three previous matches 1-0 was very important. It would be an exaggeration to talk about a mental lock developing within the team, but with that victory over NePa a week ago and the trashing of Ilves yesterday, we surely have a much nicer atmosphere among the team — and among supporters as well.

NePa and Ilves both play in Nelonen with us this season. Based on what I’ve seen, NePa is again going to be in the top half of the table, but Ilves is a whole other story. It is a big club so who knows who they will end up fielding for the second team when the real matches start. However, if they will play with the team that has played training matches this winter, I’d be willing to bet they will get relegated.

The road ahead has us play a training match against TPV’s U19 team on Sunday next week. I heard that the youth team will be reinforced with some adult players from their second team. That seems like a good idea, because otherwise the score might get ugly really quickly. After this match no other matches have been scheduled. We are waiting for our Nelonen schedule to be finalised, which I expect to happen early next week. We are also going to have a Finnish Regions’ Cup fixture away in Seinäjoki

against the local Sisu-Pallo. I heard rumors that this match might be played as early as April 12th, but I would not expect an announcement until our Nelonen schedule is finalised.

In other news, there was a nice story on our youth teams in the local free newspaper Tamperelainen. Do check it out if you understand Finnish.