Ilves was caught even in the victory with Sabit Ngor’s hit, but the top scorer Bojan Radulovic saved HJK a point in time 90+4.
One match was played in the Veikkausliiga football league on Sunday. HJK’s lackluster early season continued when they drew 1-1 against Ilves in Ratina.
Thus, KuPS, who knocked down FC Lahti yesterday, still holds the top spot in the series. Both KuPS (19 points) and HJK (18 points) have now played nine matches. SJK has 14 points, but has only played six matches.
HJK started the season with three wins, in which they kept a clean sheet. Since then, the Club has won two more, but has drawn with AC Oulu, KTP and Ilves and lost to KuPS.
Ilves suffered defeats to Oulu and SJK in their previous games, and now holds seventh place in the league table.
In the match between Ilves and HJK in the opening period, Ilves was neck and neck in the statistics. It took Ball control 57–43 and goal positions 4–2. Neither team had a single shot on goal in the opening period.
On the other hand, there were enough interesting events at the beginning of the second episode. Ilves took the lead with an Australian striker Sabit Ngor with the first Veikkausliiga hit. Lauri Ala-Myllymäki focused, Joona Toivion the clearance failed, and Ngor cannoned off the counter-ball.
Shortly after the goal, the match was interrupted for a moment in a confusing way. The field was taken over by a seagull, who is not interested in the players’ hustle and bustle. The HJK defender who made his debut in Huuhkaj in the fall and played against Denmark in the EC qualifying match Tuomas Ollila finally managed to escort the bird over the sideline.
– If Ollila’s playing career is interrupted for some reason, there is no choice but to contact Korkeasaari. There is a career available there after the football jobs, explained Ruuttu’s narrator Mikko Aaltonen.
After the seagull episode, Ilves rai a penalty kick, when Miro Tenho knocked the one who broke into the box Santeri Haaralan. However, Lauri Ala-Myllymäki shot wide of the goal.
For a long time, it seemed that Ilves would manage to defend their goal lead until the end. HJK seemed unavailable. Ilves took control of the ball in the second period as well, scoring attempts (4–4) and shots on goal (2–2) were tied.
However, in the extra time of the match, in time 90+4, HJK got a flurry in the box, at the end of which the top name of the goal exchange Bojan Radulovic shot the ball into the net. Sixth hit for the Serbian this season.
HJK’s young striker Kai Meriluoto stated in Ruudu’s interview that one point was the best that HJK could get from Tampere, because the team played so poorly. Especially in the first period, according to Meriluoto, the team fell into too difficult solutions. In the end, the straightforward style brought the equalizer.
– We weren’t very good. We started really bad. At the end we got a lot of pressure. Noticed that the first game on the grass, the ball bounced, could not get hold of the ball. Fortunately for us, Ilves didn’t make it 2-0.
On Monday at 6 p.m., four matches will be played in the Veikkausliiga: AC Oulu–FC Honka, FC Inter–IFK Mariehamn, Haka–VPS and KTP–SJK.
You can find the league table at this link.