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 Jyväskylä on Saturday afternoon.
Smith started up front and went the full 90 minutes for coach Petri Vuorinen whose squad was able to comeback in the final ten minutes with just ten men to defeat the Veikkausliiga's last place team.
An early red card put VPS in trouble as goalkeeper Henrik Moisander was sent off for studs-up tackle in the 21st minute, reducing the visitors by a man and forcing Vuorinen to bring in Henri Sillanpää to man the pipes while sacrificing playmaker Pekka Kainu.
Despite being a man down, the visitors were still able to apply pressure including shots by the former Georgia Southern standout in the 26th and 37th minutes. The latter effort saw Smith send a dipping ball towards goal that JJK goalkeeper Mihály Szeróvay did well to save.
The hosts were finally able to break the drought in the 80th minute when Mika Lahtinen was able to barely poke home a shot past Sillanpää after receiving a cross from Tommi Kari.
The goal was evidently just what the doctor ordered for Vuorinen's squad who then erupted for two goals in the next six minutes with both coming from Jyri Hietaharju.
Just one minute after Lahtinen's goal, VPS worked an attack that resulted in a corner kick. The resulting corner struck the hand of a JJK defender setting up a penalty kick which Hietaharju cooly converted.
In the 87th minute, defender Jussi Äijälä's free kick from just inside midfield was well played into the area and found the head of Hietaharju who smacked the ball into the net.
The victory lifts VPS to eighth place in the league standings with 33 points. Smith and company return to action next weekend in their final road match of the season when they face KuPS. |
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