PRIZE WINNERS
Sep 16
Ian Furniss
Sep 23
Doug Williams
Sep 30
Richard Hann
Oct 7
John Jones
Oct 14
Andrew Turner
McKENNA COULD USE OLD PALS ACT
Saints' boss Ken McKenna exchanges some opinions on Tampere with his Aberystwyth counterpart Brian Coyne when the Finns played at Newtown.
A YEAR since losing out to MyPa-47, the Uefa Champions League draw later this month could throw-up another visit to Finland for The New Saints.
And if TNS are paired with Finnish champions Tampere United, manager Ken McKenna's first port of call will be friend and former Carmarthen Town boss Mark Jones and current Richmond Park coach Mark Aizlewood.
Jonah and Aize were at the Old Gold helm last season when they tumbled out of the InterToto Cup to the Finns - one of the 14 seeded potential opponents for the Saints. Their dossier would prove invaluable, although McKenna has also seen Tampere in action, watching when they beat Town 3-1 at Newtown's Latham Park.
It was a dead rubber, after the Old Gold failed to take their chances and then wilted in the Tampere heat to lose 5-0 in the first leg. But he will have seen enough to know that the tall and physical Scandinavians would be tough opponents.
One of the lower rated seeded clubs - with a Uefa coefficient of 2.420 - Tampere are relatively new to Finnish football and were formed just nine years ago. An initial plan to merge local football clubs FC Ilves and TPV failed, but Tampere took the place of TPV in the top division and clinched their first title in 2001.
They repeated the feat last year and are already looking good for another title - despite losing their final pre-season game 4-0 to MyPa-47, they already top the Veikkausliiga with 19 points from eight games as the Finnish campaign is under way. Experienced forward Antti Pohja has returned from a spell at HJK while Toni Järvinen and Tomi Petrescu, respectively recruited from FC Lahti and FC International Turku, are quality signings. The side also boasts Finnish internationals in the form of goalkeeper Mikko Kavén and midfielder Jarkko Wiss making for an experienced and resilient outfit.
A visit to the 17,000-capacity Ratinan Stadium
would be a tough test for McKenna, but with the experience of last year's jaunt to Anjalankoski and a little help from his friends, the Saints' boss would be able to go well-prepared.
• The other seeded qualifiers are: Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus), Domzale (Slovenia), Elfsborg
(Sweden), Sarajevo (Bosnia), Ventspils (Latvia), Zilina (Slovakia), Derry City, Hafnarfjardar (Iceland), Kaunas (Lithuania),
Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova), Rustavi (Georgia) and Pobeda Prilep (Macedonia).
