League Play-Off

Mämmenkylä
Spectators: 34 (Terracing: 26, Seating: 8, VIP seats: 0) The mood of the audience was pleasant when Kristian Alin made the kick off which started today's match. In the 7th minute, August Kantola hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Juha-Pekka Esala showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Heimo Vanhatalo in the 11th minute of the match. Arvi Hagelberg charged in rather forcefully in the 14th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Arvi Hagelberg the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. The audience thought a goal was coming when August Kantola got free with Timo Palander in the 19th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. In the 21st minute, Benjamin Pihlanen hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. A collision led to Mämmenkylä IFK getting a freekick after 25 minutes play. Topias Meriläinen hit a great ball. Vesa Ruohiainen kicked well hit freekick during the 28th minute of the match. Juha-Pekka Esala showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Heimo Vanhatalo, who was totally free with the ball in the 32nd minute. Heimo Vanhatalo sent away a hard shot on goal in the 34th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. Juha-Pekka Esala showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Vesa Ruohiainen in the 36th minute of the match. Juha-Pekka Esala made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Juha Pitkämäki in the 38th minute of play. FC Tampere's Heimo Vanhatalo got a good chance for a goal in the 39th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. Heimo Vanhatalo sent away a hard shot on goal in the 41st minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. Juha-Pekka Esala showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Sulho Pyhältö in the 43rd minute of the match. Heimo Vanhatalo received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 44th minute. Juha-Pekka Esala tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Juha-Pekka Esala made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Heimo Vanhatalo in the 47th minute of play. After a very even first half the match was still tied. The players went to their respective dressing rooms to discuss the tactics for the second half.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Heimo Vanhatalo to make the kick off. Heimo Vanhatalos short, quick shot in the 52ndth minute got Juha-Pekka Esala to make great effort and bar the ball away from getting in. After some fancy dribbling in the 55th minute, Heimo Vanhatalo managed to get in a good position for a shot. FC Tampere's supporters rose to their feet, but Heimo Vanhatalo was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Juha-Pekka Esala breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. An unexpectedly hard shot by Saul Myllykoski in the 63rd minute of play forced FC Tampere's goalkeeper Timo Palander to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. In the 64th minute Heimo Vanhatalo shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Juha-Pekka Esala saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. With a couple of smart ball manuevers Heimo Vanhatalo in the 67th managed to get into a good position. With a left leg Juha-Pekka Esala saved Mämmenkylä IFK from getting behind. Vesa Ruohiainen scored 1-2 in the 69th match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Juha-Pekka Esala, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. When Vesa Ruohiainen came up free with the goalie in the 72nd minute, the FC Tampere fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Vesa Ruohiainen couldn't finish the play. In the 81st minute of the match, Heimo Vanhatalo tried to roll the ball into the goal by the right post, but Juha-Pekka Esala saw his intentions and got control of the ball before it passed the line. If Heimo Vanhatalo had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 84th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. The crowd rose to their feet as Heimo Vanhatalo kicked a wonderful shot that went in to the left of a diving Juha-Pekka Esala. That made the score 1-3 in the 86 minute of play. Heimo Vanhatalo received a nice pass, split the defenders, and ran untouched towards the goal. Juha-Pekka Esala came out and tried to block the shot, but Heimo Vanhatalo slotted it home off the left post making it 1-4 in the 94th minute. When the match was over FC Tampere could go home with a victory in their luggage, having controlled the game far better than Mämmenkylä IFK throughout the match.