Today’s match against AC Darra was just as difficult as I predicted. They looked a much better team than what their position at the bottom of the table would seem to indicate. Still, for the most part we can only blame ourselves for making it difficult. The defense had all sorts of problems whole match long, no doubt largely caused by the fact that our leading center back Ahmed Lakra was not able to play in this match. In the midfield and offense old problems resurfaced in that we seemed to be unable to make things connect for large stretches of the match. Still, the team must be commended for fighting hard and playing with a lot of heart, and we undoubtedly deserved the 4-3 victory.

But no, it is not acceptable that a goal kick can go through two of our players all the way to the quick-paced striker who then outruns our defense for an easy goal. And no, when we score 4-2 less than 15 minutes from full time, it is not acceptable to think the match is done (not on the field; I did so on the sidelines and that is my right as a supporter), take it easy, and give an easy counter-attack that leads to a penalty and a goal.

The flip-side is that when we went down 0-1 from the very first attack of the match, the team remained patient even when Darra was applying good pressure on our midfield, making it difficult to get decent balls forward to our strikers. This was rewarded in that gradually we got the match in control and were able to equalize before the half. The flip-side is also that when we went down 1-2 on a cheap goal early in the second half, the work rate remained high, and after we scored the equalizer about 5 minutes later, we never gave Darra any control of the match. The team always seemed confident in their ability of winning the match, even if the supporters had their doubts at times. And at the 4-2 goal the reaction of the supporters can be best described as euphoric with a dash of being relieved.

These were three points that we could not afford to drop and we got the job done. The race at the top of the table is getting very interesting. Pelikassit seem to be running away right now, but the next 5 teams that compete for the second spot and a berth in the promotion playoffs are within 5 points from each other. We have our next two matches before the one-month summer break against two of them, YlöR/2 and Ikurin Vire. Good results from these matches will put us in a good position when play resumes at the end of July. And of course even Pelikassit can still stumble, and if we are to take advantage of that, we can ill afford to drop any points.

Scoring:
0-1 Otto Seppälä, 1 min
1-1 Tomi Lahtinen, 41 min
1-2 Otto Seppälä, 55 min
2-2 Lauri Heittola, 61 min
3-2 Mohammed El Harrak, 73 min
4-2 Kemal Dedic, 77 min
4-3 Jarkko Koskinen, 81 min, pk

Discipline:
Otto Seppälä, 50 min, AC Darra (caution)
Ville Simola, 64 min, AC Darra (caution)
Jyri Helenius, 66 min, TamU-K (caution)
Otto Hurri, 86 min, AC Darra (caution)