Let’s face it: when PJK 2 was reduced to ten men about five minutes into the second half, we should have been able to take care of business and turn the 0-1 deficit into three points. Instead, before we even got our equalizer, we were extremely close to going 0-2 down, and were only saved by an opponent losing his footing in front of an empty goal. For a while it looked like this would be the turning point of the match, as Adnan Omerovic scored the 1-1 equalizer almost immediately after this. However, that wasn’t to be. We never took the lead, and in the end we were fortunate to manage a 2-2 draw.

We did create more than enough chances to put the game away, but our finishing was lacking. That said, it would be unfair to blame our offense on the bad result. The performance was unsharp all around, and both of the goals scored on us resulted from easy mistakes in the defensive end. Our passing was slow, and too many times players used one or two unnecessary extra touches instead of letting the ball do the work. We controlled the ball most of the match, but that only gave an illusion of controlling the match.

On the first minute of stoppage time disaster struck. Towards the end we were constantly putting pressure on the PJK goal and even created a few decent chances to score, but midst all this the lone PJK forward broke free on a long ball on the right wing. The shot from a narrow angle beat our goalie Ilkka Innola, and everybody thought that was the game-winner. However, stoppage time drama continued couple minutes later, when Ahmed Lakra won a free kick for us from a good spot about 20 yards from goal. After some discussion it was Mika Kytöviita who took the free kick, full power of course, and the ball ended up in the net via a deflection from the wall. The referee blew the final whistle before the restart, and at that moment there was nobody at the stadium who was quite happy with what had transpired.

The stoppage time equalizer of course felt great when it happened, but still after the match everybody had an empty feeling. A feeling of having lost. Now that it has been a few hours since final whistle, I’m actually able to think about the situation more analytically, and I have come to the realization that the point salvaged at the dying moments can be very important indeed. Namely, we now have one tie and one loss on our record while ViiPV has two of both, and having that looming loss changed into a tie opens up many additional scenarios that keep us above ViiPV. The easiest one, of course, is to win our next three matches.

Still, tonight’s match is one that we’ll want to put behind ourselves as quickly as possible. In this regard it is very positive that the next match comes as quickly as Thursday. The team will have a practice session on Tuesday, and then they’ll have a chance to right the course two days later. Based on the looks on the players’ faces after tonight’s match, they will be extremely motivated to do so.

TamU-K – PJK 2 2-2 (0-1)
16 min 0-1 Pekka Kinnunen
61 min 1-1 Adnan Omerovic
90 min 1-2 Pekka Kinnunen
90 min 2-2 Mika Kytöviita

Discipline:
51 min Teemu Matikainen, PJK 2 (caution)
51 min Mikko Ojala, PJK 2 (ejection)
57 min Antti Eijamo, TamU-K (caution)