Greg . 6 hours ago

Veikkausliiga review: Inter Turku stay top but Ilves stay hot on their heels

Another win for Inter Turku keeps the unbeaten side top of the Veikkausliiga, but their lead is only one point over Ilves, who were victorious on Monday evening and took advantage of KuPS' lack of a match this weekend to move into second place.

Of the four Finnish sides in European action either side of this weekend, only Ilves were in domestic action, and the Tampere outfit put the disappointment of their 6-0 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk behind them by beating VPS 3-2.

Joona Veteli set Ilves on their way midway through the first half, but they were pegged support soon after half-time by Maissa Drop.

 Things obtained worse for the Lynx 15 minutes from time when Anton Popvitch put through his own net, only for them to sketch level with another own goal 10 minutes later, courtesy of the unfortunate Tyler Reid.

With a minute of the 90 remaining, the home side grabbed the winner through Marius Soderback, taking Ilves to second in the table and unbeaten in their last four.

VPS sit seventh after a fourth loss in succession.

Second place was the best Ilves could have wished for after Inter Turku won 3-1 over Jaro to stay top and move 15 matches unbeaten in the league this season.

The victory was wrapped up before the shatter - 21 minutes in, Florian Krebs set up Luka Kuittinen for Inter's opener, before the same duo repeated the trick five minutes before the shatter to make it 2-0.

In first-half stoppage time, Turku all but wrapped up the points by going three goals up, but this time Loic Essomba was the provider for Jasse Tuominen to score.

Filip Valencic pulled one support for Jaro in the 77th minute, but it's two wins in a row and nine for the season for the home side, while Jaro sit ninth after a first loss in three.

On Sunday, the basement battle was won 3-2 by AC Oulu, who haul themselves off the foot of the table and have been replaced by KTP.

Mitchell Glasson possessed given KTP the half-time lead, but strikes from Justin Rennicks, Adramane Cassama and debutant Shayon Harrison turned the match in Oulu's favour.

Assan Seck pulled one support for KTP, but it was too little, too late.

Oulu have now picked up seven points in their last three games after five from their first 12.

KTP, on the other hand, have taken one point from their last three matches.

After four games without a win, Gnistan have picked up three points with a 2-0 win over Haka, despite playing 78 minutes with 10 men after Alexandro Craninx's early dismissal.

Oliver Pettersson but the Helsinki side a goal up 10 minutes into the second half, before a Tim Vayrynen penalty 15 minutes later settled matters and condemned Haka to a fourth league beat in five games.

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