It was a tough fight against AC Darra, but TamU-K emerged with a 0-1 victory by a coolly finished goal by Mohammed El Harrak deep into the second half. Indeed, a bit of negativity had slowly started to take over among the supporters as the goal seemed elusive and a 0-0 result loomed in the horizon. In the end we got the three points that we needed, and not a lot else mattered.

There were several absences today, most notably the central defenders Sami Kriikkula and Heikki Wilen, striker Isaac Gbehan, midfielder Retu Harju, and full back Viljami Ahola. All of these players have an important role in the team, but the quality of our team is deep enough that these absences did not really play a big role. Of course Sami Kriikkula has immediately become a big vocal leader and as such is irreplaceable, but with the return of Ilkka Innola between the posts we had another vocal leader who filled in most of the gaps in leadership.

The difficulties came down to the opponent, who really did not try to win the match, but rather tried to do all they could to prevent us from winning. They played constantly dirty as their off-the-ball players were constantly doing little things behind the referees back. It also seemed like they preferred the ball to be out of play as much as possible. There was no question about who were the better team, but AC Darra made it very difficult for us to reflect that in goals scored.

To me taking this victory is the embodiment of the growth of the team. I can guarantee that as recently as two months ago we would not have won a match like this. Today we did, and the train is on track towards promotion. Since Pelikassit have not dropped any points since losing to us and are still five points ahead of us with just two matches remaining, hopes of direct promotion are all but dead. However, we are now five points ahead of Ikurin Vire who have one match in hand, so they must now feel the pressure. Moreover, in addition to their next match against PiPo-79 they have a tough match against Pelikassit before facing us in the final round. Things are getting seriously interesting, and that is football at its best.

Scoring:
0-1 Mohamed El Harrak, 66 min

Discipline:
Nawar Karikuss, 53 min, TamU-K (caution)
Kemal Dedic, 65 min, TamU-K (caution)
Juuso laakso, 68 min, AC Darra (caution)
Juuso Laakso, 75 min, AC Darra (caution)
Juuso Laakso, 75 min, AC Darra (ejection)
Tommi Pääkkönen, 80 min, AC Darra (caution)