Next up we have an away match against Sääksmäen Sopu. This is one of the shorter ones as away trips go, only about 40 km (25 miles), so even if it is on a Thursday, most supporters will have no excuse to not be there.

From what I hear, the grass field in Sääksmäki will be an interesting one: the descriptions that I’ve heard have used terms like ”tiny” and ”potato field”. Also, apparently in Sopu’s recent home match against Lammin Veto only the sidelines and bylines had been drawn, but the penalty and goal areas were not marked at all. This might make things a little bit interesting, as a certain Seattleite goal keeper would say.

For us this match is a crucial one as we get closer to the all important away clash against ViiPV. We are now five points ahead of them, and have two matches before our meeting in Viiala. If we can keep the gap at at least three points, promotion will be on the line for us in that match. For this we will need more points, as ViiPV does not appear to be dropping any points. In fact, the last time they did that was a tie against FC Rellu at the beginning of July.

We of course cannot look past Sääksmäen Sopu, or any other opponent we have left in our schedule. I suppose after the tie against PJK this much is clear to everybody. Sopu seemingly has nothing on the line in this match as they are well clear of the relegation zone and even further away from the promotion battle. However, this allows them to play with no pressure, and of course all teams would love to beat the mighty TamU-K.

Personnel-wise our situation is a little bit unclear as many players have suffered from little knocks in our past couple matches. It looks Otto Pitkänen is definitely out from the defensive line, and the official match preview from the club also mentions Vesa Suonsyrjä, Mohammed El-Harrak, and Adnan Omerovic as unavailable. On the other hand, Juha Kumara and Lauri Heittola return to the lineup, and even player-coach Mika Suonsyrjä is back from red card suspension. Assuming there are no further absences, we have enough personnel for a very competitive team. Oh, and Anssi Saiha plans to be in the lineup, but his form is questionable because of chronic back problems. Cannot but wish him luck, as he can be an exceptional player for this level even if not 100 per cent fit.

Kick-off on Thursday at 7 pm sharp at the Rauhala field in Sääksmäki, Valkeakoski. I will be there, hope you will too!