Football | “It was euphoria” – HJK’s savior told about the decisive moments with wide eyes

To the same while HJK’s team was shouting and celebrating a place in the Conference League in the locker room, one of the key players in the victory was sitting half-naked in the corridor, sipping water from a plastic cup.

Diogo Tomas seemed to have carved his way from the midst of apocalyptic destruction to success without sparing himself.

The cult player’s eyes were like saucers as he struggled to form words about his feelings. HJK beat Klaksvik 2–1 and took their place in the Conference League. One minute before full time, Tomas slid into the mouth of the goal and crushed by Lucas Lingman from the pass to force the ball into the goal.

With that goal, HJK tied the game against Klaksvik from Färsaare and seemed to take the match to the next match.

“My goal is number one in my career,” Tomas said.

“I didn’t think anything at the time. I played football with good friends. We pushed forward and deserved that goal.”

Half for an hour, HJK chased Klaksvik’s lead with superiority, when shortly after the opening goal, Klaksvik’s player received a red card. It didn’t look like HJK would get anything out of the match, but then Tomas’ goal changed everything.

“It was euphoria. It had good friends around me celebrating. In those moments, you lose yourself. I followed myself as an outsider. It was incredible.”

Head coach of HJK Toni Korkekunnas shouted his voice hoarse after the victory. Heart rates were high in the final moments.

“Great feeling. An incredible team. This team has been together for 4-5 weeks now. A third has been replaced. The team is welding better all the time. This has not been the easiest of all. We have instilled faith in the team we have made.”

“This is a big relief. I’m really proud of the team. Credit to the players.”

“

“It was a drama. We’ve had a lot of crap this year.”

The opening episode the beginning looked like it was going to be a really long evening. It is quite natural that in the deciding match, with the Conference League looming on the verge of victory, both teams try to minimize risks.

As a result, there really wasn’t any celebration of football. HJK did not get a single excellent scoring attempt before the equaliser.

At half an hour, topper Aapo Halme had to be replaced, and he was replaced by Diogo Tomas. After that, Tomas was writing the ending, which HJK will not forget for a long time.

“It was a drama. We’ve had a lot of crap this year. We drill and we are a team that has grown together. We earned a place in the Conference League. We haven’t gotten anything for free,” Tomas said.

“In moments like this, we show that our team has depth and potential, which is beautiful. In moments of difficulty, we measure which team it is. This gives us faith and trust. We know we have a fantastic team.”

In extra time, the guarantor of HJK’s victory was once again the Scottish power forward Lee Erwinwho scored a 2–1 winning goal.

“It was an intense match. It would have been easy to panic, but we showed that we know how to play. I felt how the goal would come in the end. After that goal, you could see that the match would only have one possible ending,” said Erwin.

“The conference league is a huge experience for us. That’s where HJK should play. This brings joy to our supporters.”

The conference league starts at the beginning of October. HJK’s next fateful match is this weekend in Vaasa.

“In the goal setting of the club management, the league championship is more important. But I guess this is also quite nice in their opinion. I had such a wish that we would [varsinaisella peliajalla] goal, but Erwin’s goal was a nice bonus,” said Korkeakunnas.