Results around Nelonen have been extremely favorable for us lately. So much so in fact that you might think tomorrow’s match against the local Tampere rival PP-70 is not an important one. However, for me now is when we get our opportunity to build a bit of a gap to our nearest rivals in the promotion race. We are getting very close to the halfway point of the season, and if we do things right, we might have a five point cushion at the top of the table at that point – or even more. To achieve that, three points are definitely required tomorrow.

There are three things working against us though. Firstly, we have had a longer break from matches, and also tonight is the first time the team even trains since Thursday last week. Breaks away from football are definitely needed in the long season, but the next match is always a challenge when that happens. Secondly, we have a number of injuries. In particular, our midfield had just started to click like the coaches had envisioned it, but it looks like Eero Riponiemi will be out for a while with the apparent knee injury that he suffered in our last match in Sastamala. Add a few other nagging injuries and other absences, and there are some question marks in the lineup. I even heard that Mika Kytöviita will be unavailable due to work-related reasons.

Thirdly, and this might be the biggest one, it seems that a lot of the players in PP-70 consider us as a big rival, and so I’m sure that we will face eighteen of their best players, and they will all play with 100 per cent motivation. This is not exactly different from a lot of the other teams we have faced over the course of the past two years and a half, but sometimes this effect is stronger than at other times, and I think tomorrow will be one of those times.

On the plus side, Jan Irjala and Andrea Milanti are expected to be back. Other than that the team has so far kept quiet about who will be in the lineup, but I did hear that Jouko Turunen might be back after missing a couple of matches due to an apparent hamstring injury that he suffered in the match against Ilves.

The match is designated as an away match and will be played in Ikuri, deep in a western suburb of Tampere. This is our first and only match on that field this season, and that is a good thing for sure. The location is inconvenient for most supporters, and even though they have had small stands there this year, there is very limited space for spectators. For the stats geeks, the first team has won all of their three competitive matches on this field with an aggregate score of 11-2; however, that was all in Kutonen two years ago.

Kickoff for this match is at 6.15 pm on Wednesday. As it is an away match, there won’t be a live stream this time, but those fluent in Finnish can follow the match on Twitter. And I suppose scores will translate to anybody.