Haka take narrow lead
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Article summary
FC Haka 2-1 FC Etzella Ettelbrück Mika Nenonen scores two early goals but the visitors are still in the tie.
Article body
Nenonen scores twice
Haka took the lead against the visitors from Luxembourg, who had lost all four of their previous UEFA Cup ties, on four minutes when Mika Nenonen was sent through by Sergei Terehhov and made no mistake. A quarter of an hour later, Haka made their dominance tell again through Nenonen, this time after a precise pass from Tommi Torkkeli.
Etzella back in tie
Within six minutes, Etzella had pulled one back after winning a penalty. Patrick Grettnich sent Haka goalkeeper Mikko Vilmunen the wrong way, and although the home side continued to press after this setback, just before the break centre-back Janne Salli was shown a red card for a tackle from behind.
Huttunen 'confident'
The second half was a quieter affair, with Etzella better able to contain Haka thanks to their one-man advantage. Haka must now hold their lead in the second leg on 29 July, and coach Olli Huttunen said: "I am happy with the result, since we had to play the second half with ten men. Still, I am not too happy with the way we played in the first half. We made too many mistakes and they proved to be costly. However, I am confident we will get the result we want in Luxembourg."
