The European games of the Finnish teams continue in the second qualifying round of the Conference League.
Aino Paloniemi,
STT Sports
22:25•Updated 22:36
Seinäjoki Football Club defeated the Estonian FC Flora in the second leg and advances to the second qualifying round of the Football Conference League.
The next place was secured when Seinjoki beat Flora at home with a score of 4–2.
The Estonians won the first leg 1–0 and SJK started the second leg from the position of the chaser.
In the second leg, Flora took a firm hold on the next place by taking a 2–0 lead at the beginning of the second half.
However, SJK woke up two goals behind and tied the score at 3-3 in regular time. In the case of a tie, a solution was sought in a follow-up match.
The hosts got to the next match with one man advantage, when Flora’s Ken Kallaste had received two yellow cards within a minute in a 2-2 situation and flew into the shower in the 82nd minute. In the follow-up match, Flora was sent off again, when Sergei Zenjov received his second yellow card of the evening.
Seinäjokiken Ville Tikkanen succeeded in the 113th minute of the game and secured the two-goal lead needed for the home team to continue.
SJK’s English striker Jake Jervis was on fire during the actual game time of the match and scored a hat trick in less than 30 minutes.
– At halftime we felt that we could improve. Then there was another setback, but we got up. We have setbacks and are criticized, but we always rise. We will continue to fight. I am so proud and happy, rejoiced SJK’s head coach Joaquin Gomez.
Flora, who historically played in the group stage of the Conference League last season, received two red cards in the match and played the follow-up match almost entirely with two players understrength.
In the second qualifying round of the conference league, SJK will face Norwegian Lilleström.
Kuopio’s sky continues with a draw
Like SJK, Kuopio Palloseura advances to the second qualifying round of the Conference League. On Thursday, KuPS managed to defend its 2–0 home win against Dila Gori of Georgia.
The second leg ended in a 0–0 draw, which is enough for Kuopio to qualify for the next round. In the light of the statistics, Dila clearly dominated the match, but KuPS kept the Austrian keeper Johannes Kreidlin paint clean.
In the second qualifying round of the conference league, KuPS will face Moldavian Milsam.
Inter’s Euro season, the third Finnish team in the conference league, ended already on Tuesday, when Kosovo’s Drita was better than Turku with 3-1 on aggregate.
Story edited at 22:36: SJK’s head coach’s comment added and the course of the matches clarified.