The two unbeaten sides in the 2025 Veikkausliiga were the big winners again at the weekend, as KuPS extended their lead at the top to seven points with a late show against Haka. Meanwhile, the only side to take a point from them this season, Inter Turku, went second by beating one of the main challengers for the European place, Ilves, as SJK's poor form continued.
Inter Turku welcomed Ilves to Veritas Stadion separated only by goal difference, but the home side put daylight between the two with a 3-1 victory.
It took less than six minutes for Inter to get off the mark, when a swift attack resulted in Johannes Yli-Kokko finding Axel Kouame, and he steered his shot from the edge of the area into the bottom corner.
But the lead would last all of four minutes, thanks to Joona Veteli flicking on a Maksim Stjopin free-kick with his head into the far corner.
After two goals in the first 10 minutes, there was also two in the final 10 minutes, but crucially, both went to the Turku side. First, Bismark Ampofo laid the ball off for Florian Krebs to strike into the bottom corner from over 20 yards out.
Then, a fourth win of the season was secured in the 89th minute, when Loic Essomba was upended by Ilves goalkeeper Otso Virtanen, and the resulting penalty was put away by Jasse Tuominen.
Inter Turku are still some distance behind KuPS, who were made to wait by Haka to record a seventh win in a row, also bagging a 3-1 win in the end.
The visitors' early domination was rewarded after 17 minutes when Petteri Pennanen guided the ball past the Haka goalkeeper with a sweet strike.
1-0 was how it stayed until 15 minutes from time, when Simon Lindholm beat the offside trap before taking a ball over the top down superbly and applying the finish to draw the Valkeakoski side level.
But the hosts' hearts would be broken one minute from time, when Arttu Heinonen slotted a pass through to Otto Ruoppi, who put KuPS back in front from a tight angle.
In added time, Haka sent goalkeeper Liam Hughes up for a corner, only for the ball to be cleared to Dion Krasniqi, who rounded the backtracking Hughes to score into an empty net.
The Kuopio side move onto 22 points from a possible 24 with a tough test against Ilves to come in midweek, while Haka slip to three losses in a row.
There was more disappointment for SJK, who won their first four matches but have won none of their last four, the latest a 2-2 draw with Gnistan.
The Helsinki club took the lead in both halves, first through Vertti Hanninen, then Roman Eremenko, but on both occasions Samuel Chukwudi equalised for the visitors within 12 minutes to spare their blushes.
SJK are now third, a point behind Inter Turku. After a slow start, Gnistan have moved into seventh, with a loss to KuPS their own defeat in their last five.
It has taken seven matches but HJK have finally reached the top half of the table this season, recording their biggest win so far in a 4-1 success over KTP, who stay one from the bottom.
Alexander Ring's opener was cancelled out by Armaan Wilson's penalty, before Teemu Pukki missed a spot-kick of his own in first half stoppage time.
Finland's record scorer dusted himself off to put HJK back in front midway through the second period, before Santeri Hostikka and Georgios Kanellopoulos wrapped up back-to-back league wins for the first time in 2025.
Elsewhere, a Sebastian Dahlstrom penalty was enough for Mariehamn to beat AC Oulu 1-0 away from home to keep the hosts bottom of the pile, while there were no goals between VPS and Jaro, as the Vaasa side failed to build on recent wins over Ilves and SJK.
