In recent weeks, Veikkausliiga champions KuPS have been in freefall, while record winners of the Finnish league, HJK, have been unstoppable.
Therefore, the last thing anyone expected when the two met in Kuopio on Friday was for the home side to run out 3-0 winners, courtesy of a Joslyn Luyeye-Lutumba hattrick.
KuPS came into this match having taken just one point from their previous five league matches, although that did come in the reverse fixture with HJK a month ago.
The Helsinki club, by contrast, were undefeated in their previous nine in the league and 12 in all competitions.
But HJK were left stunned when they found themselves behind after just three minutes.
A corner was played short to Clinton Antwi, who curled a cross onto the head of Luyeye-Lutumba, who guided the ball home.
Just five minutes later, the forward was at it again against his hometown club - latching onto a delicate through pass from Otto Ruoppi, shrugging off challenges before firing into the top corner.
HJK showed plenty of their capabilities going forward, with Teemu Pukki alone having four shots on goal in the game, but they could not find a route back in before Luyeye-Lutumba killed the game off.
19 minutes from time, Antwi was again the provider and the end result was the same, the 22-year-old completed his hattrick, taking his tally for the season from one to four in 71 minutes.
The win puts KuPS back above HJK after briefly falling behind on goal difference, though HJK have a game in hand.
However, KuPS failed to regain first place in the league standings, as Inter Turku drew 2-2 away at Gnistan to stay top on goal difference.
Inter's unbeaten league record was under serious threat midway through the first half, as Tim Vayrynen and Juhani Ojala putting the club from the capital 2-0 up inside 26 minutes.
Ojala's goal was spectacular, winning possession on the halfway line before lobbing the goalkeeper from over 40 yards.
The visitors pulled one back on the stroke of half-time through Dimitri Legbo, but they needed until the seventh minute of second-half added time to complete the comeback.
Chaos ensued in the Gnistan penalty area with everyone up for a corner, before finally the ball was bundled home by Loic Essomba.
That extended Turku's unbeaten run in the league to 12 games, though no side has drawn as many as their five this season.
Gnistan sit seventh with four wins, four draws and four losses this season.
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