When you sell 200 hot dogs at a football match that is attended by 224 people, those were probably some pretty darn good hot dogs. The match itself was a success for us too as we emerged victorious with a second half goal by Jouko Turunen. It was probably the most tactical match that TamU-K has ever played. Granted, it was not the best football either team has played, but it was a hard fought match and emerging victorious felt great. Now we have shown that we can win tight matches against some of the best teams in Nelonen.

Perhaps the biggest moment of the day happened just before kick-off, as our own F9-boys escorted the teams onto the field. During the match they acted as ball boys and even managed the scoreboard. It was indeed the first time we used the scoreboard in Pyynikki, and the moment when I saw a little boy running up the stairs to put our 1-0 goal on the board was quite emotional for me. Throughout the years when Tampere United played in the top tier, the fact that we did not have youth teams was pointed out to us many times. Well, no more!

The match itself was defensively as solid a match from us as ever, but offensively we suffered from the absence of five creative players. Jan Riikonen, Andrea Milanti, Juha Kumara, Joonas Kupiainen and Anssi Saiha were all out due to minor and major injuries. Losing five players that typically play in the starting eleven would be a devastating blow to any team – the fact that we still had the full 18 players in the lineup and took the three points is testament to the commitment level and depth of our team.

One of the players that provided depth in this match was was Jonne Keränen, who only played about 30 minutes. The man from Lapland was indeed a match changer for us. There were probably a few other factors that resulted in that most of our goal-scoring chances were created in the last half hour of the match, but it was Keränen who gave the perfect pass across the field that resulted in the only goal of the match. At first it seemed Jouko Turunen’s first touch took him to a too narrow an angle, but the goalie crouched as Turunen blasted the ball into the top corner. A beautiful goal, one of the best I’ve seen in Pyynikki. You can watch it too.

In addition to the duo involved in the goal, a few other players stood out for me. Jan Irjala seems to be one of our most important players match after match – a leader in defence. In the first half we had almost nothing going for us offensively, but Petri Vadén was trying his darnedest. He got good support from full back Ville Toiva on his left wing, but rarely had anybody to pass to near the goal, and his attempts to find a shot on his own were easily thwarted by NePa’s defenders.

Vadén did have a couple great chances to score during the second half, but he squandered both of them. Likewise, Eero Sointu had a couple of good looks on goal, and even Jacin Dakkaki and Mika Kytöviita wasted their opportunities. This is not to say we dominated the match, but during the last half-hour we had a number of very decent chances before and after Turunen’s 70th minute goal.

NePa played a pretty cynical brand of football, but they did have their changes to score as well. This was truly a match that could have gone either way. Our victory here sends a message to everybody that our talk about fighting for promotion is not just talk. Our next chance to solidify our position among the top of Nelonen takes place on Friday when we face VaKP away at Valkeakoski. In my mind this was always going to be one of the toughest fixtures in our calendar this year. Now we get to go there with a lot of positivity around the team.

TamU-K – NePa 1-0 (0-0)
70 min 1-0 Jouko Turunen

Discipline:
42 min, Jan Irjala, TamU-K (caution)
75 min, Niko Saarinen, TamU-K (caution)
87 min, Jonne Keränen, TamU-K (caution)
90 min, Miika Räisänen, NePa (caution)