Kalle Koskinen: The Iceman

Kevin Larsson left the club for €165,000. Sochi snapped him up after securing his release clause. He will prove to be a massive loss to Peimari United, and to the Veikkausliiga, having put in some incredible form throughout the season. Ville Saikkonen left on loan to GIFK Kauniainen. The goalkeeper had not played at all this season, due to the form of Aatu Hakala and Tyler Whitesides, and was hoping to resurrect his season.

*Sigh*... Here we go again! We began the month brilliantly, in truth. A late Felipe Aspegren goal was enough for us to take an invaluable win home from RoPS, before new signing Guido Claeys scored his class with a brace in a 4-1 win over FC Haka. Claeys was on the score sheet once again as we dismantled IFK Mariehamn 3-0 at home. However, it all came falling down away to SJK. With the game tied at 2-2, we allowed Maximo Tolonen to score late on to complete his hat trick, and to provide us with an unwanted defeat. To make matters worse, we failed to break down a stubborn AC Oulu side as we finished the month with a bore draw.

Guido Claeys was our hero in August. After a disappointing U19s European Championship tournament with Belgium, Claeys came back to make his debut against RoPS. He went on to score three goals and assist two more in a very productive debut month at the club for the young Belgian striker. He was already looking like becoming a star player with his early form. Super signing, that was for sure.

It was tight, and we were set up for a very tense end to the season. We led HJK by three points, but they had three games-in-hand. However, we still had to play HJK, and that game was likely to be what was to sway the title race. Our superior goal difference meant that we realistically only needed to match HJK's points tally. It was possible, but we knew we needed to beat HJK.

It was do or die. Our next game was at home to HJK. If we won, we had the advantage in the title race (by goal difference). If we didn't win, they had the advantage. We needed to start the final two months as well as possible. HJK were not our only tough opponents, however. HIFK and IFK Mariehamn have proven to be worthy opposition in the past, while VPS, FC Lahti, FC Inter Turku and KuPS were all reputable opponents. Winning the league was going to be next to impossible for us, but where's the fun without a bit of a challenge?

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Peimari Untied suffered the most ridiculous defeats as they lost 3-2 to HJK at HakkisPaana. Peimari captain Mikko-Petteri Latosaari slipped on the ball on the halfway line to allow HJK attacker Riku Riski a free run at goal to score the opening goal for the away side. Peimari equalised minutes later through Oliver Antman but HJK regained their lead before half time. Eero Hyökyvirta and Oliver Antman were both sent off for Peimari United in a chaotic second half, before HJK scored a third goal to all but secure victory. Guido Claeys scored to give Peimari United some hope late on but HJK saw out the game to earn an all-important victory in a nervy title race.

The atmosphere in and around HakkisPaana pre-game was something incredible to behold. There were over a thousand home fans outside the stadium cheering on their team, who were in the midst of a nervy title race with the visitors, despite the stadium only capable of hosting 400 fans. Peimari fans let off flares and chanted their songs from the streets as the team buses passed by. There was a belief among the home fans that their team was on the brink of something special.

However, they did not anticipate the type of special they witnessed in the third minute. Peimari captain Mikko-Petteri Latosaari and Rasmus Holma were interchanging passes with one another on the halfway line when the former let one pass roll under his foot. Latosaari slipped as he tried to regain possession, allowing HJK striker Riku Riski to run onto the ball and bare down on Peimari's goal without a defensive challenge to evade. Riski was calm and composed and finished high into the right-hand corner to send HJK into the lead. It was a disastrous slip by Peimari skipper Latosaari, similar to that of Steven Gerrard's slip against Chelsea back in 2014.

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Peimari's players were in shock by the manner of the goal conceded and Latosaari offered his apologies to the fans at the game. However, the home side equalised just minutes later. Ollila's initial delivery from a corner was a poor one and the ball found its way back to him. His second delivery was much better, however. Ollila had wormed his way into the box before drifting a cross into the six yard box. Oliver Antman was on hand to poke a header beyond HJK's Kozlinski, leveling the game up just minutes after that freak incident.

HJK regained the lead just before half-time, and it was another freak goal which gave them the lead. Luiz Fernando floated a deep free kick into the box with a major lack of pace. HJK defender Daniel O'Shaughnessy could only direct a harmless header towards Peimari's goal. However, Peimari goalkeeper Tyler Whitesides took his eyes of the ball and the ball dropped out of his hands into the path of HJK's Sebastian Dahlström to tap in an easy rebound. Another incredible individual error from a Peimari player to hand HJK the lead, yet again.

Peimari's players completely lost the plot when they re-entered the pitch for the second half. It was almost unheard of for two incredible mistakes to occur in one game, and to be punished for both. Their players lost their head, and Eero Hyökyvirta was given his marching owners by the referee for a bad tackle less than nine minutes into the second period. Luiz Fernando was leading a counter attacking charge for HJK in Peimari's half when he was chopped down from behind by Hyökyvirta. The referee immediately brandished a red card as the Peimari midfielder was given no warning for his brutal tackle.

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Oliver Antman joined team mate Eero Hyökyvirta for an early bath just fifteen minutes later as he too picked up a red card. Luiz Fernando was running the show for HJK in midfield and Oliver Antman picked up a second yellow card for a late tackle on the Brazilian. Antman protested his innocence but the referee was uninterested. Peimari United, quite incredibly, were reduced to ten men after making two incredible howlers for HJK's goals.

Attacker Iván Agudo put the game beyond doubt with HJK's third goal, with less than fifteen minutes remaining. The Spaniard got on the end of a Juha Pirinen cross to convert from close range, sinking Peimari's home fans further into their seats. It had been a horrible game for the home side, and made even worse by a third goal conceded.

Peimari United's young star striker Guido Claeys emerged with a ray of hope for the home side, as he cut HJK's lead with ten minutes to go. Akseli Ollila led a counter attack down the left before lofting the ball into the path of Claeys. The Belgian took one touch on the edge of the box before blasting the ball past Kozlinski and into the back of the net. It was to be nothing more than a consolation goal, however, as HJK walked away with all three points.

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Peimari United today announced plans to expand HakkisPaana had been approved and construction work is due to begin. The Sauvo-based stadium will be expanded by 696 seats to reach a total of 1,096 seats. The construction work is expected to take ten months to complete, due to the complexity of the project. Due to the harsh Finnish winters, the majority of the construction work will take place next summer, delaying works due to necessity.

Peimari United will play at Liedon keskuskenttä in Lieto until works on their own stadium have been completed. Liedon keskuskenttä is owned by Lieto Jalkapalloklubi, and is based in Lieto, and is based approximately fifteen kilometres from Peimari United's home town of Paimio. Peimari United will pay a fraction of any ticket sales to Lieto as part of a rent package, but the figure has not yet been agreed.

Peimari United chairman Antti Eklund announced his excitement about the stadium expansion. Eklund was awarded a grant of €475,000 from the local council, while also securing a €475,000 bank loan to complete the €950,000 project. The loan is to be paid off over ten years, while Eklund plans to further improve Peimari's facilities during that time.

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Well, that didn't go fully to plan. We started off with the big crunch tie against HJK. Two incredible errors, including an exact replica of Steven Gerrard's infamous slip, set us back against them, and we were not helped out by earning two red cards in the second half. We clawed the game to be as tight as possible but HJK came out on top, earning them a major advantage in the title race.

The next game could not have been any more frustrating. We traveled to HIFK to redeem ourselves and looked like doing so, courtesy of an early Rasmus Nielsen goal. However, HIFK had other plans as they found the back of our net in stoppage time to earn a share of the spoils. The result effectively ended our title race, should HJK not provide any major slip-ups of their own.

Our players were angry and desperate to recover. We let out our full rage on IFK Mariehamn at HakkisPaana. Justus Kauppinen was the star of the show, as he scored twice, as we hammered our opponents 4-0. It was a result, coupling up with a slip by HJK, which gave us the very slightest of chances of winning the league again. However, it was still well out of our hands.

Aaaaaaand then back to the drawing board. Late goals proved to be our bane once again as VPS were the recipient of some late fortune. Justus Kauppinen continued his goal-scoring form by opening the scoring just after the hour mark. However, our concentration levels dropped late on (again) as VPS tied the game through Cabral. Kalermo then popped up with a goal in the third minute of stoppage time to hand us yet another agonising result.

We were angry. We took out our frustration on our next two opponents. We marched to a 4-0 victory away to FC Lahti to show a very good response to our recent misfortunes. FC Inter Turku were next, and we hammered them 5-1 at HakkisPaana. They did score a late goal to prove we were still vulnerable in the closing stages of a game.

Our final game of the season was away to KuPS. It was a tough game, with our players feeling the effects of a long season. They took the lead just after the half-hour mark, but our young English defender Richard Latham equalised with a header from a corner minutes later. Late goals were our killer, once again, as KuPS' Pellikka scored the winner with just a few minutes left on the clock to hand us a final day defeat.

Justus Kauppinen was our hero in September-October. After the departure of key player Kevin Larsson, Kauppinen was left as our only natural right-sided inside forward. He had big boots to fill for the rest of the season, and he did pretty well considering. A brace against IFK Mariehamn was his highlight as he scored four goals over the two months.

The title dream was over! HJK ended up topping the league by an incredible seven points. Their run of form from July onwards was fantastic and unmatched. Their win over us at the beginning of September effectively secured the title. We took a lot of pride from what we had achieved. Having just earned promotion to the Veikkausliiga, many anticipated us to be relegated back down. However, we ended up being the league's top scoring team and finishing in a marvelous second place position. We had set a very high bar for ourselves for future seasons in the Veikkausliiga.

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