Due to Saturday's Suomen Cup semi-finals, this round of games was spread between Sunday and Wednesday. I'll do a short round up of Wednesday's matches afterwards.
HJK 4-2 Honka
It was the most anticipated match of the season, the first five-figure attendance in years, and surprisingly, a great game to go with it.
Happy Lod
A third minute goal from Robin Lod started proceedings, good timing as my Urho stream had only just started working. 10,305 people had squeezed into the Sonera Stadion, and most of them will have been happy. Alho's deep cross met Demba Savage, who headed straight at Honka keeper Viitala, but he could only push it straight back to Lod, who had a virtually open goal from five yards. Several yellow cards later, the game reached half-time at 1-0 to HJK, although both teams had chances.
Whatever Honka coach Mika Lekhosuo said at the break clearly worked as Honka flew out of the blocks. Tim Väyrynen, who'd scored a hat-trick for Finland U21s in the week, lofted a long ball over Ville Wallen, although Tapio Heikkila didn't cover himself in glory, letting the ball bounce in before trying to punch the ball away... Just before the hour, Honka's central defenders combined - Meite headed a corner against the bar, before Gideon Baah's overhead kick from the rebound flew in the goal.
Sad Baah
Ten minutes later, Teemu Tainio rose to head in a corner to make it 2-2 - before the Lod show continued - turning in a cross at the near post on 79 minutes, and two minutes later sprinting through the Honka defence to complete his hat-trick. The match ended 4-2, and it was a great advert for Finnish football. The challenge now is to build on this, for other clubs as well. Admittedly HJK do have a full-time award winning marketing professional, but hopefully this will inspire the others.
Lod with Ridge Forrester (Mrs ETS had to explain it to me)
Lod received his hat-trick hat (and man of the match award) from US TV actor Ronn Moss, famous for his role as Ridge Forrester in the Bold and the Beautiful... We never really got that show in the UK, but Mrs ETS explained that when it launched in Finland in the 90s, it was quite the phenomenon. He said he's doing a secret project in Helsinki, so we'll have to wait and see...
Highlights of HJK 4-2 Honka
HJK are still second in the table, but have closed the gap to Honka to just one point, with 45 points from 23 games. Honka are first with 46 points from 24 games (one more game played than HJK). HJK's game in hand is against TPS in September.
TPS 2-1 VPS
Midfielder Wayne Brown described it as a rugby match. It wasn't going to be pretty, neither team have contributed many open games this year. But it was a crucial match in the race for a bronze medal (and Europa League place), with the top two so far ahead.
Ameobi keeping an eye on the ball
Roope Riski opened the scoring after 26 minutes, nipping in at the back post. But Patrik Lomski equalised ten minutes into the second half (although TPS keeper Lehtovaara should have done better). Jani Tanska scored the winner with seven minutes left, leaping to nod in another cross. Three points in the bag for TPS, while VPS's poor form continues (2 wins in 9).
Highlights of TPS 2-1 VPS
The result leaves TPS in seventh place with 30 points from 22 games, albeit 2 games in hand on most teams around them. VPS are still third, with 36 points from 24 matches, nine points behind second-placed HJK.
MYPA 1-1 Inter
Like last year, MYPA have gone about their business quietly, not really challenging for anything but winning enough points to keep in the top half. But they'll view this as points lost against a drab Inter team who can barely buy a win (one win in fifteen league games). MYPA won a penalty after 24 minutes after Soiri was fouled by Gruborovics, converted by Pekka Sihvola (who else?), but Inter levelled just five minutes later through Guy Gnabouyou.
Yannick Salmon has a pop
Highlights of MYPA 1-1 Inter
MYPA are fifth, with 33 points from 23 matches. Inter are eleventh, 26 points from 24 games. I'll upload highlights when I see them...
