After an impressive performance against VPS on Monday from Inter Turku, they will hope to win their 2nd game in a row on April 13th, when they will face off against SJK, who will visit them at Veritas Stadion.
Inter Turku will come into their next match after winning against VPS, which was the first time in the last 8 H2H matches that Inter Turku managed to end up on top. With a win against VPS, Inter managed to fix the impression they left in the first match of the season when they lost to HJK (2:1), which to be fair was not a bad result, but it still meant Inter started off the season with a loss.
As it stands now, inter Turku are 5th in the Veikkausliga with a 1-0-1 record and 3 points. Looking back at Inter Turku matches, they started off this season with two cup matches. They managed to win the 1/8 finals match against Hercules (0:2), however, failed to do the same against VPS in the quarterfinals (1:2). On the bright side, Inter Turku had their revenge on Monday, when they defeated VPS in the league match.
The visiting side, SJK are coming into this match as a 4th team in the league, with only 1 match behind them. In their first and only league match up to date, SJK won against HIFK at OmaSp Stadion, where they were the dominant side. SJK held the ball for 62% of the time, created 8 goal attempts and produced 5 shots on goal. On the other side, HIFK struggled to stay competitive, with only 38% ball possession, 2 goal attempts and 2 shots on goal. To be fair the only thing that worked for them was the 100% conversion rate of goal attempts to shots on goal. There is also some credit to give to the newcomers HIFK, as they did perform fairly well in the first half, but it all turned around midway through the 2nd half, when SJK started dominating. In the end, SJK just barely managed to squeeze in a game-winning goal in 85th minute. While I was not too impressed by the overall performance from the home side, SJK deservingly got themselves the first win of the season.
As mentioned, SJK were not too impressive in their most recent match against HIFK, who managed to stop their attempts for the first half and a good portion of the 2nd half. In the end, SJK ended up as the better side, however, it took them over an hour to get into the winning rhythm. Taking into consideration the subpar show from SJK against HIFK for the first hour of the match, I have my doubts how well will they perform against Inter Turku who play well this season. While it's early into the season to predict how the teams will continue performing, I feel comfortable saying I expect great things from Valencic, who scored twice in the last match. In fact, Inter Turku team plays well as a group and should be more than capable of sending SJK home emptyhanded.
Prediction: Inter Turku to win