Let’s face it: cup competitions are awesome, and they get a bit more awesome each time you advance to the next round. Success in Finnish Regions’ Cup does nothing to advance our main

goal of getting promoted to Nelonen, yet most supporters that I have talked with are very excited about tonight’s match. Getting into the last 16 is a tantalizing proposal, and then who knows how far we could go.

The opponent Lohikosken pallokerho (LPK) from Jyväskylä is largely an unknown quantity. They play one division above us, but since that is in a different region, it is almost impossible to know how they are going to compare with us. Based on everything I have read they are a serious and well-run club, as you would of course expect from anyone you’d face at this stage of the competition.

LPK’s league season has not been very successful, the record showing just one win and three losses. The one win is in fact against a team that has no wins in six matches. Of course their Regions’ Cup campaign is an entirely different story: three wins and all of them away. Such a mixed bag of results does not really allow assessing their quality.

The venue for tonight is a new one for us. The grass field in Lamminpää seems to be in pristine condition, and the stands and other structures around the field make it feel a bit like a stadium. It looks like LPK will be traveling to Tampere with a few supporters on the team bus, so everything is set up for a better than average night of football.

Our team seems to be in full force. Jan Irjala is cup-tied due to having played in a Regions’ Cup match for TKT earlier in the season, but otherwise everybody who was available on Saturday is available today too. Based on his play yesterday in the second team match, Ahmed Lakra will be added to that bunch very soon, and even Otto Pitkänen is planning to return to team training later this week. It is doubtful for either of them to get any minutes today though.

The match kicks off in Lamminpää at 7:30 pm. You wont want

to miss this one!