Brief summary of Sunday's fixtures. Some KuPS flair went viral, while TPS were left black and blue.
Admir Catovic celebrates (photo via Juha Poutanen)
Inter 2-1 TPS
The first Turku derby of the season provided more drama than most of these sides' games so far this year. TPS had lost star man Wayne Brown 24 hours earlier, in a swap deal with SJK's Felipe Aspegren, and were rooted to the bottom of the table. But in front of a big crowd of 5063, they took the lead via Eero Tamminen, heading in his first goal for the club on 24 minutes. But Inter rallied, and new signing Francis Suarez capped his debut with a close range finish after 58mins. 2012 top scorer Irakli Sirbiladze sealed the points with a scrambled injury time winner. Inter up to eighth, TPS remain bottom.
KuPS 4-0 IFK Mariehamn
The flick heard around the world, or something. But it was a masterclass, and a universe away from the feckless KuPS of the early season. A 16th minute breakaway goal from Nigerian Francis Chibuike, another fine discovery by the TopSpot boys, opened the scoring, before the big turning point. Mariehamn keeper Otso Virtanen flew out of his goal after 28mins, and brought down Catovic, earning a red card. Harsh? Maybe, he was running away from goal and defenders were coming back...
But on came 16 year old sub keeper Marc Nordqvist, and was quickly into the action, saving a free kick, but picking the ball out of the net after Colley slotted home the rebound (31'). Chibuike sneakily scored his third goal in two games after 40 minutes after the Mariehamn defence lay down, a fine flick at the near post. Catovic scored a fine fourth, chipping the keeper from outside the box two minutes later.
Then came the moment. In the second half, Catovic was on the by-line on the left wing, his path to goal blocked by Tommy Wirtanen. Did he cross? Turn back? No, he did what those thieving goons at 101 Great Goals call a "rainbow flick". We've all done it on the playground, he rolled the ball onto his heel, flicked it over his and Tommy's head, and continued. Luckily, your intrepid reporter was sat with the laptop watching the game while waiting for dinner, and caught it on Vine. If you're on Twitter, I'd gratefully appreciate a RT of this, and not of the hundreds of other tweets hosting it... Much obliged!
KuPS move up to seventh place, above ninth placed Mariehamn.
Honka 1-0 RoPS
A few chances, and almost a spectacular goal... Fulham loanee Alex Brister's 25 yard shot cannoned off the post midway through the second half (68th minute), and dropped perfectly for Finland U21 international Anyamele, who headed home. I wish someone would put a 90 minute camera on Honka coach Shefki Kuqi, who was (apparently) his usual animated self and moaned afterwards about the ref. Anyway, Honka are sixth in the table, while RoPS are eleventh, and have no points or goals from their last four away fixtures.
Lahti 1-1 VPS
VPS defender Keithy Simpson made his Jamaican international debut the week before, but was called back by his club prior to matches against Egypt and France. While his new teammates were getting pumped 8-0 in Lille, he found the tightest space to squeeze the ball in from a corner in the sixteenth minute. Lahti's Kimmo Hovi was making his first start for the side after being promoted from the academy side, and remained cool in the 49th minute to equalise. Lahti are third, VPS fourth.
Jaro 0-2 HJK
A huge crowd of 2364 crammed into the Pietarsaari ground, and saw a resolute HJK rack up a seventh straight league win since their managerial change. An early goal from Mac Kandji gave them something to defend, he made it look a bit too easy when riding the challenges. Strong defending and some questionable tackling from Jaro kept it tense, until Demba Savage's 95th minute clincher, sent clean through and beating the keeper. HJK have yet to concede a goal under Lehkosuo, and are already seven points clear with a game in hand over MYPA.
Highlights of Sunday's fixtures
