After the long four-week break, the season finally restarts on Friday with a match against TaPa 2. We have a bit of a feeling of unfinished business with TaPa 2 since in the first round of the season we ended up tying them 2-2 in a match that we really should have won. This alone would guarantee a highly motivated team on the field, but we also know that chasing Pelikassit and Vire in the promotion race requires us to not drop any points at all.

During the break TamU-K has announced two important signings. These are both goalies that can also play other positions. While I do think that none of our dropped points this season were a result of bad goalkeeping, it was unquestionably the position where we most needed improvement. Our starting goalie is now Ilkka Innolla, who transferred to us from Tampereen Pallo-Veikot (TPV), a club that plays in the third division (Kakkonen). This is a transfer that has amazed a lot of people, because you rarely see somebody want to transfer to a club four divisions down, but such is the draw of TamU-K right now. Still last season Innola was the starting keeper for TPV and played 22 matches in Kakkonen, and even this season he has played a few matches for them. He will add a whole new element to our team that provides much more than just an improved ability of stopping shots and getting to crosses. Our back line now has a vocal leader, and Innola also has an ability to deliver the ball to field players that is unusual in this level. Innola is now 30 years old, which for a goalie is quite perfect. Hopefully he will have several years of service for TamU-K. He will also be available on Friday.

The other signing is Henry Friman. If we hadn’t been able to sign Innola, he would have been our starting keeper without any question, and a huge improvement at that. However, the good thing is that he can also play as a forward or center back. Indeed, those are the positions that he played in his previous club FC Tampere City Centre (TCC). In TamU-K he is most likely to play as a forward, and I would expect to see him in goal only if Innola is not available. At just 21 years of age, he could be many things for us in the future.

Getting back to the match against TaPa 2, it is hard to give any other prediction than a TamU-K victory. Every team seems to be highly motivated against us, but I don’t think that is going to make a difference this time. It also seems that TaPa is having trouble getting a regular lineup match to match, which has got to make their season very difficult. They even had to forfeit their last match at the end of June against Pelikassit because they could not get enough players for that match.

The announced goal for the fall season is to get the full 24 points from the eight matches that remain. This goal was always a realistic one, but with the new signings it has become even more so. If we manage that, we will at least get into the promotion playoffs. And who knows, maybe Pelikassit will drop enough points to give us a shot at direct promotion.

It all continues on Friday July 27 at Kaukajärvi with the kickoff against TaPa 2 at 7:45 pm. Personally I wont be able to make the match, so I will be following it on twitter. Everyone else: have a great time at the match and sing TamU-K to victory.