Saturday’s away match against OldSchool was just as difficult as I predicted. An early goal for the home side caused a lot of concern among the supporters, but in the end the boys in blue showed what they are made of. A 1-2 (1-2) under pressure in difficult circumstances shows a lot of character.

The difficult circumstances were caused by new injury issues. Just when we had thought the worst was over in that department, we got bad news with both of the Kupiainen brothers out. Moreover, in this match all plans about moving defenders to the midfield were made impossible by the fact that Osku Airesto and Otto Pitkänen were out due to non-injury-related reasons. The coach really had no choice but to play Juha Kumara and Timo Kauppinen as center backs. This lead to a 4-4-2 formation that a lot of the time looked more like a 4-2-4 formation. Our wide midfielders were Petri Vadén and Mika Kytöviita, who normally play as wingers in our 4-3-3. This left Vesa Suonsyrjä and Lauri Heittola alone in the midfield, and that made the match quite difficult for us. I’m sure this is something that the coaches will have the team work on.

So needless to say, it was not pretty, but we got the job done. The equalizer came from another of those long throw-ins by Mika Kytöviita that we have enjoyed throughout the season. This time it was Timo Kauppinen who got to score, forcing his way to the ball and heading it in with confidence. Kauppinen in fact had an all-around excellent match as a center back, the only taint being the missed penalty in the second half.

The winning goal was scored late in the first half. The play was started from a great cross by Antti Eijamo from the right side of the field. The cross found the head of Nawar Karikuss, who put the ball forward to Jacin Dakkaki inside the box. Before I knew what had happened, Dakkaki had put the ball in the net with one touch. A beautiful goal. At this point I felt the usual confidence in the team. We are still the best team in Vitonen defensively, and we are very difficult to beat when we get a lead. Earlier on when we were still 1-0 down I remember muttering ”we will turn this match”, but I have to admit it was something I had to say to make myself actually believe in it. But that’s the kind of pessimist I tend to be, always looking at the worst case ”what-if” scenarios.

The second half did not provide many goal-scoring opportunities for either team. The match was slightly better in our control than in the first half, and apart from the pressure felt towards the end when OldSchool brought more people up and started using long balls, our goal seemed safe. Our best chance to score an insurance goal was earned by Jan Irjala, who was fouled in the box just as he was about to unleash a shot that might have very well gone in. However, the penalty kick by Timo Kauppinen was stopped by the goalie.

Talking about those pessimistic ”what-if” scenarios, one of those is that the second round of matches this season may prove to be much more difficult for us than the first round. The reality is that at this point of the season we no longer get the same advantage from training throughout the winter that we did get earlier on. Also, we are no longer an unknown team to our opponents. Teams can adjust their tactics based on what they experienced in our first meeting earlier in the season, and indeed the only team that got any points from us so far did just that. Have to give props to FC Rellu for that, and I also have to admit that even OldSchool got very close.

The next match will be an interesting one. We are still working on multiple issues in our own play, and it will be interesting to see what choices the coaches will make. Moving back to the small field in Pyynikki will also surely have an effect on our play. And on top of all that, there will be some extra emotion in the air, as the opponent is TahVe, the team that avoided having to play a match against us in the spring by showing up with seven players and faking an injury right after kick-off. Hopefully all these factors result in a highly motivated team and three points.

OldSchool – TamU-K 1-2 (1-2)
5 min 1-0 Mikko Saarinen
28 min 1-1 Timo Kauppinen
42 min 1-2 Jacin Dakkaki
60 min Timo Kauppinen missed penalty

Discipline:
75 min Nawar Karikuss, TamU-K (caution)
89 min Vesa Suonsyrjä, TamU-K (caution)