London Bus's

Firstly i'd like to say it's a great pleasure to be the first to contribute something to this blog and i hope it become's a big success!

Secondly i apologize that it is written in English but seeing as this is being published on the internet i thought it better not to embarrass myself too much.......or give the 'mighty midget' Aki Sipila any more reason's to joke about my Finnish!

I've had the opportunity so far this season to view things from the pitch, in the changing room and also in the stands with the supporter's so i have got a taste of how everybody is feeling in and around the club but as this is my post i thought i would give you the Captain's view.
After a long pre-season of what i think is fair to say quite mixed results, some good performance's in the Komia turnaus and then the loss to FC Jazz in the cup we headed into the first game quietly confident but with a bit of uncertainness as to how things would start, which is why i stressed the fact to the boy's how important it was to believe in what we were doing, to believe in each other and also the team and so far as captain i have been proud of how the lads responded to that.

We all knew the importance of getting a good start to the league campaign and the disappointment of only getting a point against Jippo was clear to see amongst the team after the game, especially as we were only  minutes away from victory, but looking back on things it gave us even more incentive to get the win against HIFK at home which turned out to be a good performance and a great occasion all round.......except for the fact i broke my rib and was looking at missing the next 5 games.

I did actually try and train a few days after that as i had not yet had an x-ray and thought it may only be bruising , in the dressing room before training Toffe asked if i was sure i would be able to train and in front of everyone i said "joo, mä oon kova jätkä"  ....needless to say i lasted 5 mins before collapsing in pain and screaming (which i must admit did sound a bit girly). Every day since then i have been greeted when walking in to the dressing by Aki Sipila with that same girly scream and asked before every training...oot sä kova jätkä tänään?!?!

Being injured at such an early stage of the season is not easy so i have tried to involve myself as much as possible being at all the trainings, traveling with the team to the away games and being a translator to our foreign players in the pre-match meeting's. Despite all this nothing compare's to being able to play and it is so frustrating to have to watch from the stand's, fortunately the team have made it easier for me by getting a run of good results and although some of the games have not been the most entertaining the spirit and belief within the team has been clear to see, especially away at KooTeePee where again i was so proud of the way the boy's performed.

With such an intense run of game's there will undoubtedly be injuries or suspension's and unfortunately we seem to have had some bad luck in those areas with key players being away especially in the last couple of games and it has shown......which leads me to back to the title of this post...London Bus's

In England we have a saying "You wait hours's for a bus and then 2 come along at once!"
Well we have gone 44 games without losing and now 2 have come along, suddenly everyone has an opinion about what's wrong and how we should play and everyone has a right to voice that opinion right or wrong, thats football, it would be boring if we all thought the same, but for me as captain it is important now to get the team to stay calm, focused and continue doing the things that saw us go 44 games unbeaten. It is a long season and it will not be decided on these two games alone.

Back on the positive side of things i have finally recovered from my injury and as of last Monday am once again a "kova jätkä" so i will hopefully be involved in the upcoming game against AC Oulu which will be another tough test against a very good side.
Like i said, after a couple of bad results it is important we all stick together as a club and continue to move in the same direction...........

Chris Cleaver