That was a special night for TamU-K, and exactly what the supporters needed right now. The match against ViiPV drew our record crowd in Kaukajärvi, and the team took care of business on the field with a convincing 2-0 (0-0) win. More than 150 people around the field got to enjoy some great football on a sunny evening.

The match started a bit nervously for us, and indeed the opponent had the best chances to score in the first half. Ilkka Innola had to come up with big saves on a well-placed goal kick as well as on a close range effort that he cleared with his legs. It was not an altogether bad half, so I was feeling confident going into the break, but the reality was that we never really threatened to score.

The second half was much better from us, no doubt in part because ViiPV started to get tired. TamU-K must be a nasty team to play against, because our boys are capable of moving the ball around the field and have the other team chasing, and when we are not in possession, we give no extra room or time to the other team. The likes of Jacin Dakkaki and Petri Vadén must give nightmares to opposing defenders. They never get tired and they are always on your skin.

The energy that was building among the supporters was finally released in full force when the supporters favorite Juha Kumara scored at about the hour mark from a long throw-in by Mika Kytöviita. Juha ran at least fifty meters across the field to celebrate with the supporters, shirt pulled over his head, in front of the Sinikaarti banner. Such a special moment. How many players in this level ever get to do something like that?

Just five minutes later we got to do it all over again, just this time the player who had scored was maybe the least likely of them all. And what a goal that was! If you had told anybody that Vesa Suonsyrjä was going to put the ball into the top corner from about twenty meters, they’d have thought you were kidding. It seemed Vesa put all his power behind the ball, and when the ball took a deflection off a foot of a defender, many thought the ball was going to go out for a corner. To everybody’s astonishment, the ball went in and Vesa got to make his shirtless run to the supporters. The image of Vesa lifted up midst a pile of supporters is something that will stick as an iconic moment of this season.

The remaining 25 minutes were just a formality. The opponent was tired and had given up. In fact, they had trouble getting out of their own half with anything but a desperate long ball. At the final whistle the realization that we had won four matches in ten days gave me immense pride. And of course, we are now at the top of the table with a five point gap to ViiPV and at least a nine point gap to everybody else.

The eleven days long Midsummer break comes at a great time for us. The intense stretch of matches has had its toll on the team: many players are healing minor injuries and I’m sure physical and mental fatigue was starting to creep in too. Moreover, after such an emotional victory against the biggest rival in the promotion race it would be easy to go into the next match with less than hundred per cent attitude if it came too quickly. Now the players have a chance to relax a little over Midsummer and then return to football with a renewed focus. As a supporter, I actually feel the same way too. Four matches in ten days has been fun, but a chance to lie back a little is well appreciated right now.

In a sense our season starts anew when play resumes at the end of June. We have already shown that we are a top team in our division, but getting the full 24 points in our eight league matches has not won us anything in terms of promotion yet. We have three of our longest away trips still left, and also the dynamics of the matches might shift when we soon start to meet teams that we have already played against.

Going to the Midsummer break lossless is better than could have been reasonably expected though. Add that the second team climbed onto the top of their table by winning their match today, and you can say it is pretty good being blue right now.

TamU-K – ViiPV 2-0 (0-0)
59 min 1-0 Juha Kumara
64 min 2-0 Vesa Suonsyrjä

Discipline:
59 min Juha Kumara, TamU-K (caution)
64 min Vesa Suonsyrjä, TamU-K (caution)
77 min Jesse Järvi, ViiPV (caution)