June 17th. 2006
UEFA Intertoto Cup 1st. Round 1st. Leg played at Ratina Stadium Tampere.

Tampere United 5 Carmarthen Town 0

Antti Hynynen 24', Ville Lehtinen 40', Jussi-Pekka Savolainen 43', Petri Heinänen 65', Aristides Pertot 90'

Carmarthen Town paid a costly price for some early missed opportunities as a couple of own goals and some clinical finishing from the hosts condemned Town to a very harsh scoreline.

Nathan Cotterrall almost set the tie alive when his second minute effort just went wide after Rhodri Jones had put him through on goal. Cotterrall continued to break down the left and Kaid Mohamed’s effort on the quarter hour scraped the wrong side of the upright after Cotterrall had nutmegged his marker on the flank.

Town looked quite comfortable against their full time opponents but it was Tampere that broke the deadlock after Pertot stole some 15 yards at a free kick and in the goalmouth confusion the ball came off Kevin Evans with Lehtinen claiming the goal that came against the run of play.

as the break approached Ovendale gathered Hynynen’s drive across goal well but Heinanen was allowed to cross from the byeline and the John Hartson look-alike Lehtenen headed home powerfully to make it two with five minutes remaining.

Having matched the full timers well Town conceded the killer blow just before the break.JP Savolinen broke inside on a diagonal run and found the far corner of Ovendale’s goal with a rocket of a shot to make it a flattering 3-0 at the break.

Following the break Chris Thomas produced a weaving run out on the left but Kaven held Cotterrall’s headed finish well to deny the wingman.

With the heat beginning to tell and Pertot becoming increasingly influential in the middle of the park Town conceded a second own goal when the ball deflected off Loss and into the net beyond Ovendale.

Mark Jones brought on Mattie Davies and Sasha Walters just after the hour to revive Town’s attack and the Richmond Pak outfit continued to compete well as they went in search of the away goal.

Then with Savolinen coming within inches of his second it was Pertot who capped his fine performance with Tampere’s final goal that did not reflect Town’s contribution to the game.

Having done so well in last season’s European campaign it was a disappointing end to a game that had promised much. But it was the hosts that took their chances and in the end clinical finishing won the day.

Tampere United: Mikko Kavén, Vasile Marchis, Jussi Kuoppala, Antti Hynynen (Antti Ojanperä 86’), Ville Lehtinen (Miki Sipiläinen 66’), Jussi-Pekka Savolainen, Sakari Saarinen (Juska Savolainen 69’), Jarkko Wiss, Petri Heinänen, Heikki Aho, Aristides Pertot. Subs not used: Mika Hilander, Erik Westerholm

Carmarthen Town: Mark Ovendale, Luke Hardy, Martyn Giles, Neil Smothers, Kevin Aherene-Evans, Rhodri Jones (Sacha Walters 63’), Chris Thomas, Colin Loss, Mark Dodds (Craig Lima 83’), Kaid Mohamed (Mattie Davies 63’), Nathan Cotterrall. Subs not used: Andrew Delve, Wayne Jones

Referee: Nebojša Rabrenović (YUG)

17.06.06 www.carmarthentownafc.net

June 24th. 2006
UEFA Intertoto Cup 1st. Round 2nd. Leg played at Latham Park Newtown.

Carmarthen Town 1 (C. Thomas 35’) Tampere United 3 (V. Lehtinen 8’ 38’ 47’)

Having incurred a 5-0 deficit in the first leg Carmarthen Town looked to regain some pride and redress the balance of the one-sided score line in this Intertoto Cup second leg tie against Tampere United of Finland.

But with the Finnish League leaders retaining the advantage throughout there was no fairy tale ending for Town as the Welsh Premier outfit’s European campaign was ended by the full time Fins with a 8-1 aggregate score line.

Manager Mark Jones was full of praise for his players’ effort and commitment:

“I thought we did well. At 3-1 down the alarm bells could have rung but we stuck to the task and kept our heads.

“Our commitment was magnificent and our younger players came through well. It’s been a great experience for them and we will all benefit from that.

“Their centre forward was a class act, he knew exactly where the goal was and his finishing was clinical. He really was the difference between us.”

Having settled well the host’s hopes of a revival were rocked when Jarkko Weiss’ curling set piece into space was back-flicked into the net past Town’s exposed keeper by striker Ville Lehtinen after only eight minutes.

Town retained their composure and competed well with Colin Loss, Luke Hardy and Chris Thomas causing problems down the right and captain Nathan Cotterall’s low cross across goal only requiring the slimmest of touches to find the net.

Town’s perseverance was rewarded as they levelled the score on 35 minutes. Kaid Mohamed mazy run took him past two defenders and his squared ball into the path of Thomas was struck home from 20 yards to give the hosts some hope of containing the Fins.

Tampere hit back immediately. Argentinean mid-fielder Aristides Pertot held off both his markers to send in a curling cross that Lehtenan dispatched well to restore the lead three minutes later.

Following the break Lehtenen’s fine hat-trick compounded Town’s woes. Sakari Saarinen’s break down the left provided well for Lehtenen who picked his spot to extend the margin for the visitors with an excellent strike that crowned a fine individual performance.

But with the game drifting and lacking any real impetus and cohesion both sides introduced changes. Tampere retained possession well and only a fingertip save from Mark Ovendale denied the excellent Saarinen just after the hour.

Having competed well Town produced a late rally and Cotterall’s left wing runs providing well, but without result, for Danny Thomas and Sasha Walters and with the visitors content to play the game out there was little to excite the crowd and Tampere United progressed to the second round of the competition for the fourth successive year.

Carmarthen Town: 1 M. Overdale, 2 L. Hardy, 3 M. Giles, 4 N. Smothers, 5 C. Lima (4 W. Jones 55’) 6 D. Thomas, 7 C. Thomas, 8 C. Loss (15 S. Walters58’), 9 M. Dodds, 10 K. Mohamed (12 M. Davies 60), 11 N. Cotterrall ©. Subs not used: 19 A. Delve (GK) 16. K. Aherne-Evans,

Tamere United : 1 Mikko Kaven ©, 4 Vasile Marchis, 6 Jussi Kuoppala , 9 Antti Hynynen 10 Ville Lehtinen (20 Juska Savolainen 50’), 11 Jussi-Pekka Savolainen (5 Antti Ojanperä 85’), 13 Sakari Saarinen, 14 Jarkko Wiss, 16 Kari Sainio, 19 Heikki Aho, 24 Aristides Pertot (18 Risto Ojanen 58’), Subs not used: 12 Mika Hilander(GK), 17 Miki Sipilainen.

Referee : Hannes Kaasik (Estonia). Attendance 325