ReipasGround: Lahden Kisapuisto Visits: 1 Date: 26th June 2019 Match: Reipas - Klubi-04 1-1 (Kakkonen, Lohko A) Attendance: 300 The last match on my trip was to be in Lahti. Two years ago I attended Lahti v HIFK at Lahden Stadion and this time around it was time to visit Lahden Kisapuisto, the home of Reipas. I started the day with a two hour bus journey from Tampere to Lahti and arrived shortly before noon. My hotel was across the street from the station and thankfully my room was ready. Kisapuisto was then around 20 minutes by foot and once again I found an open gate where I could sneak in to take some pictures. Reipas is the club where Jari Litmanen started his career and there is a statue of him outside the ground. The club has won three Finnish league titles and seven cup titles. After financial problems the club merged with Kuusysi to form FC Lahti in 1996. At the same time a second team called FC Reipas was formed and they call themselves the continuation of the old Reipas. It seems a bit complicated but I hope I got it right. Anyway, tonight´s match was in Kakkonen, the third tier in Finland, and the opponents were Klubi-04. The visitors are the reserve team of HJK and that meant plenty of youngsters on the pitch tonight. In southern and western Europe it has been very hot recently but no such problems in Lahti. As I once again set off for the ground it was cloudy and 18-19 °C. It was free entrance and I estimate around 300 turned up for this encounter. The first half was even but in stoppage time Reipas scored to lead 1-0 at half-time. In the second half the visitors took control and created several high quality chances. It felt like it was only a matter of time before Klubi-04 would equalize. The equalizer eventually was scored in the 84th minute and I was pretty sure Klubi-04 would go on and score a winning goal as well. The best chance in the final minutes was for Reipas though and the match ended 1-1. As I walked back to my hotel it was raining but knowing the temperatures elsewhere in Europe I actually didn´t mind at all. My trip was coming to and I have now been to 21 grounds in Finland. In the coming years I will add to that number and hopefully I will one day complete Veikkausliiga.
West End Players and officials entering
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