HJK take Finnish Cup double

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HJK of Helsinki scored a Finnish Cup double at the weekend, when the men's team beat FC Honka of Espoo 2-1 after extra time, and the women took the Cup trophy with a 3-1 win over Kuusysi of Lahti.
      HJK had been pushed into fourth place in the Veikkaus League in the last game of the season, but by reaching the Cup Final against Honka they already knew they could get a taste of European football next season as their opponents had already qualified for the UEFA Cup by finishing runners-up in the League.
      Nevertheless, victory was balsam on the wounds of missing out on a league medal, and gives HJK coach Antti Muurinen some breathing space to plan his next season.
     
The Helsinki side's 10th cup win came through goals from Erfan Zeneli (57.) and Petri Oravainen (114.) after Jami Puustinen had scored a late equaliser for Honka with three minutes of normal time remaining.
      Among the women, FC Honka will probably be cursing HJK even more loudly, since the Espoo side - who were unbeaten in the women's league all season - were surprisingly knocked out by HJK in the semi-finals.
      HJK ultimately had little difficulty in seeing off Kuusysi, though they went one down just before half-time. Three goals in a 20-minute spell midway through the second half saw them home.
     
The weekend also saw the settling of promotion and relegation matters in the Veikkaus League.
      Viikingit of Helsinki failed in their attempt to move up, being beaten 2-1 on aggregate by KuPS of Kuopio, who had finished bottom-but-one at the end of the season.
      KuPs thus hang on to their place, while bottom club KooTeePee of Kotka make the drop automatically and JJK from Jyväskylä come up to replace them next year.
      Viikingit will be kicking themselves, as they had every chance of winning the lower division, but stumbled badly in the autumn run-in and let slip a six-point advantage.
     
The biggest disappointment, however, was not for the players of the losing sides at the weekend, but for Finnish football in general, as the men's cup final attracted a pitiful audience of barely 1,500, in spite of the fact that it featured two local teams, both with relatively strong support, playing in Helsinki.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Inter secure first-ever Finnish league title (27.10.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat