Veikkausliiga: HJK suffered a harsh defeat in Vaasa, the goalkeeper was terribly injured

Vaasa The club defeated Helsinki Jalkapalloklub 2–1 in Friday’s only football Veikkausliiga match. HJK took the lead in the opening minutes of the match, but VPS won in the second half.

HJK’s downfall on Friday started when its goalkeeper Matej Marković was terribly injured in the 49th minute of the match. VPS, who rushed to HJK’s goal Yassin Daoussi and HJK’s Ville Tikkanen bumped into Marković, and the goalkeeper’s head hit Tikkanen’s leg quite hard in the situation.

Marković was lying on his back after the hits, looking almost unconscious, and help was quickly beckoned to him. The TV cameras on the screen were quickly turned away as the goalkeeper was treated on the field for several minutes.

“Now it doesn’t look good for Marković,” explained the match Toni Saukkola updated from outside the TV pictures.

Started the match from HJK’s bench Jesse East was eventually replaced by the injured goalkeeper. After recovering, Markovic took a few steps himself from the penalty area to the other side of the end line so that the game could continue. However, the 29-year-old Croatian was carried out of the stadium on a stretcher.

Sunny The Vaasa audience, who enjoyed the weather, did not get the start they hoped for, because HJK Lassi Lappalainen directed Alexander Ringin center into the net already in the sixth minute of the game.

“Alex put in a cross from there, it does that quite often, so I knew the ball would hit the back post. Usually I’m not there, but now I happened to be,” Lappalainen laughed humbly during the half-time interview with Ruuttu.

VPS, who played strongly, kept HJK well on their toes throughout the match and got the equalizer they deserved in the 64th minute of the game. Smythin’s Wound the accurate shot surprised HJK’s substitute Öst and blew up the home crowd.

Ten minutes later the referee of the match Amir Hajizadeh whistled a penalty kick for VPS when Ring, playing with the captain’s armband in his hand, fouled the home team’s player in pursuit of the ball.

Ring strongly disagreed with the referee, but to no avail. Simon Lindholm scored VPS’s 2–1 winning goal from 11 meters.

Öst kept HJK in the scoring battle with his brilliant save, when Smyth got to try his second goal from close range. However, the club’s final score fell badly short, and it did not manage to create a single scoring opportunity in the decisive moments.

HJK fell one place to fifth in the standings, just behind VPS. HJK has won only three times in its nine league matches this season, and it has collected a total of 12 series points.

FC Inter, who are at the top of the Veikkausliiga, have already collected 20 points in nine matches.

HJK will play next time already on Tuesday, when it will face the traditional club Myllykoski Pallo in the sixth round of the Finnish Cup.