Lawrence Smith's second half goal kickstarted the VPS comeback win over RoPS on Sunday afternoon at Keskuskenttä Stadium in Rovaniemi.
Smith started on the bench for head coach Petri Vuorinen but came on as a second half substitute in the 60th minute and immediately made his presence felt with a goal in the 73rd minute.
VPS got the scoring started in the 16th minute when new arrival Arttu Seppälä took advantage of some shoddy defense by the hosts.
The RoPS defense tried heading a pass back to their goalkeeper Jung-Hyuk Kwon only to see it go over his head and bounce off the post where Seppälä then created himself some space and fired a shot past Kwon.
Jeremiah Ani got the home fans on their feet early in the second half with goals in the 50th and 57th minutes giving RoPS the lead.
Three minutes later Vuorinen looked to his bench and signaled for the South Carolina native to enter the game in hopes of answering Ani's two quick strikes.
The VPS head man got his wish thirteen minutes later when Smith took a ball just outside the penalty area, cut through the RoPS defense, wheeled around and perfectly deposited a shot past Kwon inside the far post.
The striker's goal regained the momentum for VPS who then found the gamewinner in the 87th minute when Smith acted as playmaker this time for defender Jani Lyyski.
The former Georgia Southern standout deftly chipped a pass over and across the RoPS back line where Lyyski was waiting to head the ball home giving VPS the three points.
With the win, Vuorinen's squad climbs back up to seventh place in the Veikkausliiga standings with 29 points as VPS head into a three week break before meeting up at home with MYPA on September 11th. |
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