Ground: Heinäpään tekonurmi

Visits: 1

Date: 28th June 2017

Match: Oulun Luistenseura - Tornion Pallo-47 II  3-1  (Kolmonen, Pohjois-Suomen)

Attendance: 42

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The biggest game on this tour is the Lapland derby between Kemi and Rovaniemi. That game was being played Thursday evening and not wanting to have a day without football I looked at fixtures in the lower leagues. Eventually I found a Kolmonen (level 4) game in Oulu on Wednesday evening. Level four in Finland might seem that exciting but Oulu is not far from Kemi so this was a perfect fixture for me. From Helsinki it takes 5.5 hours by train to reach Oulu and at 14.55, on time, my train rolled into the train station in Oulu. There are only a few trains on this route a day and the train was packed. My hotel was then only a 5-minute walk from the station. My only previous visit to Oulu was in 2011 and back then I had both lunch and dinner at a nice Italian restaurant. The waiter was from Genoa and a big Sampdoria fan. He told me many stories about Sampdoria including the best match he ever attended, in 1990/91 when Sampdoria beat Maradona´s Napoli 4-1. Unfortunately the Sampdoria supporting waiter did not work as I revisited the restaurant. The food was still delicious though!

Oulun Luistenseura (OLS) v TP47 II at Heinäpään tekonurmi started at 18.30 and 30 minutes before kick-off I was at the ground. From my hotel it was a 20-22 minute walk. The weather forecast said cloudy with rain showers and I borrowed an umbrella from my hotel. No problems at all with rain though and at times even the sun was out. There are nine different Kolmonen leagues and OLS are top in the most northern one. When it comes to the ground it was obviously very basic but there were two small stand on the north side of the ground. OLS might be top but it was the visitors from Tornio who scored first, 0-1 after eight minutes. OLS were the better team and equalized in the 25th minute. In the second half OLS scored twice to deservedly win this game by 3-1. Five points clear with a game in hand should mean promotion to Kakkonen for OLS. As I walked back to the city centre I could look back on a great trip so far, 23 goals in four games. Hopefully this run will continue tomorrow in Kemi.

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Heinäpään tekonurmi, entrance

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West End

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North side

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North Stand

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North Stand

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East End

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South side

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Kick-off

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North Stand

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North Stand

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Fans

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View of play

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South side

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South side

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View of play

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View of play

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View of Heinäpään tekonurmi

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Pano