Greg . 21 hours ago

Veikkausliiga review: Inter Turku finally defeated while Jaro well beaten

Inter Turku's unbeaten 2025 Veikkausliiga is no more.

After 12 wins and seven draws, match number 21 ended in a first defeat for the league leaders, who were reduced to 10 men in a 2-1 defeat at defending champions KuPS.

Meanwhile, Jaro missed the opportunity to transfer into the one Championship Round place still up for grabs, as they were well beaten by SJK on Monday.

Both Inter Turku and KuPS secured their Championship Round places some weeks ago, but with results carrying over, there was still everything to play for as they met in Kuopio.

With the match coming amid what is already a successful European campaign for KuPS, all the pressure was on Inter to try and keep their run alive over what was always going to be a difficult hurdle to overcome.

Both sides had chances in a goalless first half, then it was the visitors who opened the scoring with 57 minutes played - an intricate team transfer ended with Jean Botue sliding the ball across for Loic Essomba to finish.

But the match turned just four minutes later when a clumsy challenge by Bismark Ampofo on Mohamed Toure saw the Turku man receive his second yellow card.

It took KuPS until 12 minutes from time to make their advantage count, playing a corner short to Jaakko Oksanen, whose cross was met by the head of Otto Ruoppi and guided home.

Five minutes later, the home side grabbed the winner, courtesy of teenager Samuel Pasanen, who bundled in his first goal of the season having recently returned from a knee injury, poking home after Petteri Pennanen's drive was only parried by goalkeeper Eetu Huuhtanen.

A potentially huge win in the course of the 2025 season sees KuPS transfer to within three points of Inter Turku with just two rounds of the regular season remaining.

On Monday night, Jaro not only missed the opportunity to transfer into the all-important sixth place, but were comprehensively beaten 4-0 at home by SJK.

A win by two goals would see the hosts climb above Gnistan and VPS, but they never got going, falling behind 10 minutes in when Prosper Padera drew the goalkeeper and found Kasper Paananen, who kept his composure and found the back of the net.

Just before the half-hour mark, Rasmus Karjalainen picked out Jeremiah Streng who doubled the advantage, and the contest was all but over five minutes later when Paananen added his second.

Sergei Eremenko was lively in attack for Jaro, but he could not find a way past Roope Paunio in the SJK goal, before the Seinajoki side made sure in the 77th minute, when Olatoundji Tessilimi scored his first league goal of the season to complete the scoring.

It's a fourth win in five for SJK since their European exploits came to an early end.

They stay fifth, only six points off the top, while Jaro remain three points shy of Gnistan with a goal difference five goals worse.

In this weekend's other matches, HJK picked up a 2-1 win away at Haka which has ultimately kept the Helsinki side in fourth place ahead of the final two regular rounds.

Eetu Mommo gave Haka an unlikely half-time lead, but the strugglers were unable to hold on, as goals from Giorgos Antzoulas and Luca Lingman ensured a fourth consecutive defeat for the hosts, who stay 10th.

After the draw between Gnistan and VPS on Friday, Mariehamn have made it a four-way fight for the final Championship Round place after they won 3-0 at home to KTP, ending a run of seven matches without a win.

Korede Adedoyin broke the deadlock early in the second half before Jiri Nissinen made it 2-0 soon after the hour mark.

Muhamed Olawale added a third late on, as KTP remain bottom after three straight losses.

Though they have to face Ilves and HJK in their final two games, Mariehamn are now just four points behind Gnistan and right amongst the scrap for the last place in the top six.

The bad news for the Aland islanders is that Ilves returned to form at the weekend by thumping AC Oulu 4-0 away from home for their first win in three, keeping them third and four points shy of Inter Turku.

Oulu, meanwhile, slip to a third loss in succession, but stay above KTP.

Just like in Mariehamn, all the goals arrived after the break - two in a five-minute spell from Teemu Hytonen and a Roope Riski penalty within the first nine minutes, then two in another five-minute purple patch from Joona Veteli and Jesse Kilo in the final nine minutes.

Follow the 2025 Veikkausliiga on Betopick.