Lawrence Smith's first year with Veikkausliiga club VPS has come to a close however it remains to be seen if Smith will be back for a second year with the Finnish team. Click to continue reading...

Lawrence Smith started up top for VPS and went the full 90 minutes as the team from Vaasa wrapped up the season with a boring tie against their visitors from Aaland on Saturday afternoon. Click to continue reading...

Three points on the road capped off a grueling stretch of three games in seven days for Lawrence Smith and VPS who downed JJK at Harjun Stadion in Jyvaskyla on Saturday afternoon. Click to continue reading...

HJK showed why they are tops in the Veikkausliiga after downing Lawrence Smith and VPS on Sunday at Finnair Stadium in Helsinki. Click to continue reading...

It was a long day at the office for Lawrence Smith and VPS who went down in defeat at the hands of visiting MYPA on Friday afternoon at Hietalahti Stadium in Vaasa. Click to continue reading...

Lawrence Smith and VPS hit the road to take on next-to-last place RoPS at Keskuskentta Stadium in Rovaniemi on Sunday. Click to continue reading...

Lawrence Smith and VPS got tripped up at home by league co-leaders TPS in Sunday Veikkausliiga action at Hietalahti Stadium in Vaasa. Click to continue reading...

It was a long day at the office for VPS who got drilled by FC Honka on Sunday afternoon at Tapiolan Urheilupuisto in Espoo. Click to continue reading...

Lawrence Smith and VPS were unable to break through a tight Tampere United defense in Sunday Veikkausliiga action at Hietalahti Stadium in Vaasa. Click to continue reading...

Veikkausliiga heads north today, with long journeys deep into the countryside for HJK and Tampere United. RoPS, KuPS and VPS all have nice grounds but terrible pitches, and the difficulty of getting results there has been evident in recent seasons, with VPS acting as a bit of a bogey side for TamU and KuPS getting a memorable 3-2 win against HJK late last season to help them to a play-off spot.

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Veikkausliiga action returns this weekend for Lawrence Smith and VPS as they host Tampere United on Sunday evening at Hietalahti Stadium in Vaasa. Click to continue reading...

The preview of the sxth round should take many forms, the first one being a homage to Pasi Rautiainen. This Monday's match between Honka and TPS in Tapiola turned into something of a media event, with most of the Finnish under-21 squad presented with roses for their achievement in failing to win a single game or point, and scoring a solitary penalty during their three matches in Sweden.

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VPS and IFK Mariehamn played to a lackluster scoreless draw on Sunday evening at Wiklof Holding Arena in Mariehamn. Click to continue reading...

Watching Tampere United struggle to a single goal victory over JJK at Ratina yesterday, it occurred to me just how astonishing it is that anyone watches Finnish football. The first half was enjoyably predictable, as TamU attacked and JJk attempted to string a few passes together. JJK's South Korean striker Nam was brought off injured, and someone curled a shot against the bar for the Jyväskyläns (it could very possibly have been Koskela), and Rafinha got the winner when Sinisalo's headed past his own keeper, but overall it was a pretty run of the mill Veikkausliiga match.

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Lawrence Smith and VPS will look for their fourth win in a row when they host last place KuPS Wednesday evening at Hietalahti Stadium in Vaasan on Wednesday. Click to continue reading...

FC Inter - FC Honka
Turku, 7 PM
Live on Urheilukanava and streams

The two teams are quite similar in terms of their flowing movement with short passes, and are thus able to make this an entertaining fixture. The teams are four and six points from top respectively, and both are in need of a win tonight if they want to be on the cutting edge as far as the title race is concerned.

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We apologise for being unable to write a preview of last night's games, but here's an extended round-up to ease the pain.

MYPA - VPS 0-2

I can't help gloryhunting. VPS took a third consecutive win and I just have to support them. If I didn't, I would be scared by them.

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FC Inter - VPS

I am just about to hop on the VPS bandwagon. They scored two goals against RoPS on Sunday, a rare treat for their fans, and rumours are circulating that the central market place in Vaasa has already been booked for VPS' title celebrations in October.

Still, Inter are too strong for the Ostrobothnian side.

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It's not April Fools' Day, and I'm not kidding for any other reason either. See for yourself. Tony Björk found the net on the 12th minute and Antonio Inutile doubled the lead 11 minutes later. The two goals were enough to leave RoPS all alone in the relegation spot, and anger the fans. A thread demanding the resignation of CEO Jouko Kiistala was soon opened on Finland's biggest football message board, and the fans might have a point.

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TPS - IFK Mariehamn

TPS basically have the edge in this game, but it all depends on how they play. If they build on last week's win over VPS and produce another confident display, they should be able to win the game, but if they are inefficient and start pushing it, the game will turn out much more difficult, even more so as IFK Mariehamn really know how to play against "better" teams.

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OK, maybe I am taking a step too far in comparing this 19-year old to mr. Litmanen. Still, what a performance! Riski, or RR10, as his recently innovated nickname goes, beautifully set up TPS's 2-0 winning goal against VPS and also put the ball past Henri Sillanpää himself. He was composed with the ball, passing precisely and setting up a number of chances for his mates.

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Tampere United v FC Honka, Sunday 6:30pm

Tampere United have all the finesse, skill, confidence and panache of a bag of used cat litter right now. Their 1-0 loss to Haka was not an awful performance, but their goalkeeper messes up big time and they lost. he's a young lad and should be replaced, but now Mikko kaven has a knee injury.

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VPS went down 2-1 to Jaro in Wednesday's Ostrobothnian derby, and VPS head coach Tomi Kärkkäinen felt he had had enough. He decided to hit the road a few hours later, and was honest enough to compose a press release in which he stated that he thought he does not have the resources to bring about a change to the club's recent form.

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HJK v IFK Mariehamn, Wednesday 6:30pm

This is, somewhat surprisingly, a top of the table clash. IFK have already beaten last season's champions, drawn with one of the favourites for this season, and had a regulation win over wooden spoon-chasers KuPS. This puts them level on points with HJK, who dropped their two points at home to draw specialists TPS.

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Ari Hjelm has been with Tampere United throughout their ten-year history, first as an assistant to Harri Kampman and then from 2001 as head coach. He has won three championships, and it is a common refrain in Tampere that he is primarily responsible for the club's success, and that he is the best coach in the country.

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Tampere United v VPS, Saturday 6:30pm

The first TamU home game after CEO Sami Salonen and Sporting Director Jarkko Wiss left the club promises to be an eventful affair. Fans are unhappy at the way both men have been treated, as Wiss was not just a Sporting Director but TamU's most successful captain of all time.

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VPS Vaasa 2 Honka 5

Highlights

TPS Turku 0 JJK Jyväskylä 0

Highlights

The ice hockey world championships is getting quite a lot of media coverage in Finland at the moment, and ahead of today's Czech Republic-Norway game I asked Lars what he thought of the Norwegian team's chances.

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Hermanni Vuorinen has been reminiscing about Honka's 2005 promotion season ahead of tonight's trip to Vaasa. Back then Honka won a crucial match at Hietalahti, with big Hermanni scoring two goals, and of course Vuorinen has fond momories of the place.

"It's nice to go to Hietalahti, it's a nice place," Vuorinen told veikkausliiga.

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Hietalahti, Vaasa, 7 PM Finnish time
Live on Urheilukanava

Hermanni Vuorinen has been reminiscing about Honka's 2005 promotion season ahead of tonight's trip to Vaasa. Back then Honka won a crucial match at Hietalahti, with big Hermanni scoring two goals, and of course Vuorinen has fond memories of the place.

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The second round of games, similarly to the first, shrank a bit because newly promoted JJK joined the already too long list of teams who had to cancel their opening fixture. VPS and Haka kicked off the round yesterday, with the latter snapping a 1-0 away win thanks to a goal from Pietari Holopainen.

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The second round of games, similarly to the first, shrank a bit because newly promoted JJK joined the already too long list of teams who had to cancel their opening fixture. VPS and Haka kicked off the round yesterday, with the latter snapping a 1-0 away win thanks to a goal from Pietari Holopainen.

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The women's cup final between Lahti club Kuusysi and HJK Helsinki will be an attacking game, according to Kuusysi coach Jukka Makelä. "The pressure is on HJK, they are the leading cup team in Finland. Challenges are nice and we've played the whole season with the attitude that we don't play for a draw. Click to continue reading...

TamU beat Honka 4-3 in an entertaining game that saw TamU stir up the title race once again. A few weeks ago they got a home win against Inter and now the other title candidate was treated to a defeat at their hands. FC Lahti - IFK Mariehamn A win would guarantee IFK Mariehamn a place in [...] Click to continue reading...

FC Inter - Honka 0-0 HJK - TPS 1-0 FC Lahti - Haka 1-0 KuPS - MyPa 1-4 VPS - Jaro 2-1 TamU - IFK Mariehamn 1-0 Highlights here, just click the "Veikkausliiga" link below the video. Inter and Honka couldn't spell out a difference between themselves in the long-awaited game between the two top teams in Turku. Click to continue reading...

Tampere United fans were a little bit disgruntled on Sunday. They had been chucked out of the HJK match en masse for letting off smoke bombs, a ridiculous over-reaction and unnecessary collective punishment. The first half of the VPS match was extremely dull as a result, as the Sinikaarti section was empty and the fans [. Click to continue reading...