The short summer break has seemed like a long one, and the whole club seems to be eager to return to football. The team had their first training session since the last match today, and on Thursday we play away at Lammi. The break from football was well-deserved and much needed, but now it is time to keep pushing so as not to give any other team the idea that they still have a chance to catch us in the table. Arrogant, yes, but that is the reality of the situation.

Our injury situation seems to be easing up. Reports say that both Antti Eijamo as well as the long term absentee Ahmed Lakra look likely to make a return in Lammi. With Timo Kauppinen also back from red card suspension, our back line not only looks strong, but also has plenty of choices. Tough times ahead for the coaches. All in all, it looks like we will have an almost full bench in Lammi, so things are looking more normal again.

Our previous meeting with Lammin Veto (LaVe) was our first match in Vitonen. It was a difficult encounter for us, decided by second half goals by Mohammed El Harrak and Nawar Karikuss, after Jacin Dakkaki had scored 1-0 just before the break. Indeed, the match report posted on the opponent’s web site at the time mentioned that they felt confident that they will win us in their home match. At the time I commented that it was probably true if we wont improve our game. At this point I can confirm that we have done so, and go to the match as clear favorites.

That is not to say that victory is a given. LaVe are a good team, and have not let anybody score more than three goals on them this season. Their record is a very mediocre 4 wins, 3 ties, 4 losses, which is surely a disappointment for them. Presumably they will be starting the second round of matches with improvement in mind. At least theoretically they still even have a shot at the second place on the table, which would put them into promotion playoffs. I’m not sure if that is really their goal though: they struggled for a few years in Nelonen until finally getting relegated at the end of last season. Seems like they are in a re-building phase.

Getting back to the boys in blue, in addition to players returning from injury, we have Joonas Kupiainen available in this match. I think his absence has been an important factor in a few matches recently, so in my mind this is a huge positive for us. Add a normal back line behind him, and this match should be very different from the near-disastrous JanPa match ten days ago.

For the supporters this looks to become a great away trip. We have a good size group going and the one hour trip is as good as it gets on this level, save for very rare occasions. The match kicks off at the Turva grass field in Lammi at 7 pm sharp on Thursday. It is not too late to decide to go.