HJK again fell into its worst sin.
Larne top scorer Cian Bolger took the momentum away from Radulović. EELIS BERGLUNG / MAGAZINE PHOTO
The sun is warm at the club end on Wednesday.
It was less than ten minutes until the start of this year’s Euro adventure, when HJK’s own Euro humpa started to be heard from the ämyrei. Although Edward Mayan and Vika Jigulina the joint Stereo Love has been played to the point of boredom, it always tunes the fans of the home team to their delight.
The exotic Northern Irish opposition were not expected to cause any problems in the opening round of Champions League qualifying. The order included a solid home win, which would have left the second leg as a mere formality.
The excitement in the stands grew immediately in the first minute of the Larne match, when Hetemaj of Perpar realized Topi Keskinen vertical running. A clever vertical pass got the Irkku defense confused, and the topper Cian Bolger rolled the 20-year-old attacker onto the surface of the artificial grass.
– I got a good ball from Jug (Jukka Raitala), and it had many good moves from different players. Passes are nothing without movement, Perpa downplayed after the fight stopped.
The one who stepped in to shoot a comma Bojan Radulović rushed his first shot into the lower left corner even before the referee Goga Kikacheishvilin given permission. With the second attempt, the Serbian forward only changed the angle and took his teammates along for the opening goal.
At that point, everything looked very good. Larne had just one competitive game under their belt this season and should not be able to stop the hosts’ march.
“Difficult Games”
However, after 90 minutes, a disappointed HJK returned to the locker room. The clear control of the ball in the opening period did not lead to more goal chances, and in the second period the visitors’ equalizer was much closer than the Club’s second goal.
At the hour mark Leroy Millar headed just narrowly past the back post, and not Klubi veskari Jesse Öst would have been able to repel either by Andrew Ryan bet in the 70th minute if the ball had gone under the crossbar.
– We just didn’t score from places. These are tough games, and there are big things at stake. The level in Europe is good. This became a battle game in the second period, but we were still able to win and keep a clean sheet, Hetemaj continued.
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Perparim Hetemaj continued to be brutal in the midfield. Matti Raivio / AOP
However, the face of the experienced midfielder showed disappointment. In a week’s time in Belfast, it is necessary to raise the level of performance if you want to advance to the second round of the Champions League qualification.
– Of course, it’s a different game. There will be a lot of pressure and they certainly won’t play as much time as they did here. It’s our turn to slow the game down there. Larne was exactly the opponent we expected: the players are big and strong. They are tough at running and dueling.
It’s silly to talk about a crisis when Wednesday’s struggle ended in victory. However, HJK has scored only two situational goals in the last eight matches. The most worrying thing is that no one really knows a reasonable explanation for the inefficiency.
– We just don’t finish well enough. I had a good spot myself, but my balance was shaken due to a small push and the supporting leg hit the ball. A little care would be needed.
“Minimum Result”
The whole club has been blown away. The head coach Toni Koskela tried in the second period to wake up his team to fight by switching to the field Kevin Kouassivi-Benissanin and Anthony Olusanyabut even his means have shrunk to very poor.
– Minimum score from a home game. The first period was under good control. The second episode was clearly a less controlled performance from us. The picture of the game was not exactly what we would have liked, Koskela admitted.
Radulović’s winning goal was recorded in the third minute of the match. However, in Koskela’s opinion, it did not decrease the team’s intensity.
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Toni Koskela predicts a difficult away game for the club. MATTI RAIVIO / AOP
– It was more about the choices of how to attack. We didn’t get deep enough enough times. In the second period, the rhythm of the game was completely different.
HJK travels to Belfast with a deceptively thin lead. The victory of the match pair does not come off easily.
– It was expected.