Maalihait 3 - 1 Tampere (393753277)

625 fans braved the pouring rain at Turkku Arena. Luka Pintar was the appointed referee with assistance provided by David Cumming and Yvo Caro. Maalihait had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Tuokko - Vaahtera, Mielikäinen, Kovalainen - Rostedt, Rainio, Rikama, Lamberg, Jokimäki - Hirvelä, Pirilä.

Tampere started off with a 5-3-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Koppelmaa - Campuzano, Tosetti, Diaconu, Berfu, Orbán - Apuli, Markula, Muikkula - Luukinen, Bister.

Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Tampere. With 2 minutes played, the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as J. Vaahtera flipped the ball in after a cross from the right. M. Luukinen of Tampere was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. L. Jokimäki increased the lead for Maalihait to 2 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! After this, you could see that the players of Maalihait were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. A lack of experience caused S. Kovalainen to make a difficult dribble close to dangerous opponent J. Apuli of Tampere, who took the opportunity to score making it 2 - 1. R. Rikama could have increased the lead after 29 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. With the clock showing 33 minutes played, a great pass from the defensive line of Tampere resulted in a counterattack that was smoothly brought under control by M. Markula in the centre of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high. Halftime score was 2 - 1. Possession in this half belonged to Maalihait, who controlled the ball 63 percent of the time.

Tampere's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 48 minutes gone, but M. Luukinen's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. 51 minutes in, Maalihait's J. Vaahtera received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Maalihait put themselves up 3 - 1 when J. Vaahtera broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. Maalihait claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

Most important Maalihait player was R. Hirvelä. T. Lamberg was a disappointment, however. Tampere's top performer was clearly J. Bister. A. Koppelmaa on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 1.