Ken, Savage and Jagne qualify to quarterfinal of Finnish Cup

Aaron Wheeler was the hero on Wednesday afternoon, putting away a pair of penalties for Ken Malamin Jammeh’s FC KooTeePee as they scored a huge overtime upset over current Veikkausliiga leaders Inter Turku in the Finnish Cup.

The game was a rather drab affair through the first half, with Inter’s only real chance coming in the 43rd minute when Solomon Duah’s effort was easily stopped by KooTeePee keeper Lauri Pirhonen.

Ken Malamin’s Kooteepee, who are on the cusp of beginning their Ykkönen [second tier] season, scored the opening goal in the 73rd minute thanks to a handball call on Inter defender Henri Lehtonen, with Wheeler stepping up to sink the resulting spot kick for 1-0.

Seven minutes later, Inter equalized on a brilliant effort from Mika Ojala, who looked a cut above as he beat Pirhonen to goal to force overtime. Twelve minutes into the first extra period, Inter were again done in by an error in the box, as Joni Aho knocked Wheeler down in the box.

The American brazenly opted to take the resulting spot kick himself, and made no error with his powerful kick, giving his team the upset win. Ken’s KooTeePee will now face Demba Savage’s HJK in the quarterfinals on May 9, but must first shift their focus to the beginning of their league campaign, which kicks with a trip to HIFK.

In Helsinki, Demba Savage’s HJK qualified to the quarterfinals after playing their second straight game which ended well for them against FF Jaro.

Jaro looked strong defensively in the first half-hour and nabbed the lead in the 29th minute, when Simon Skrabb picked out Papa Niang from the right edge of the field for a fine finish. Ten minutes later, Helsinki pulled even, with Nikolai Alho sending in a pinpoint cross for Sebastian Mannström to head in past Jaro keeper Jesse Öst.

Knowing they were outmatched by their hosts, Jaro spent much of the second half defending heavily and trying to hit their opponents on the counter, however it all unraveled with 16 minutes on the clock.

17 year-old striker Joel Pohjanpalo, who had just entered the game at the hour, fired a wicked shot from outside the area, which grazed the outstretched hands of Öst and flew into goal, giving his team the win.

At the FAIR PAY Areena, Saihou Jagne was on target in IFK Mariehamn’s 4-1 demolition of third-tier side IF Gnistan. Mariehamn opened the scoring through Petteri Forsell in the 6th but the midfielder was quick to score a brace eight minutes later.

Joonas Kauti pulled one back for the host’s in the 21st minute but two second half strikes from Patrick Byskata and Saihou Jagne was enough to give the visitors the win thereby booking a quarterfinal place against KuPS.