#Article (Archive)

Dawda Bah's Helsinki loss, in Champs League qualifiers

Jul 16, 2010, 3:47 PM | Article By: Sainabou Kujabi

Gambian international Dawda Bah's chance to play in the group stages of Europe most competitive league championship with his Finish side HJK Helsinki has suffered a setback after losing to FK Ekranas of Lithuania in the first leg of the second qualifying round of the Uefa Champions League on Wednesday.

HJK had experienced a setback as early as the beginning of the match; Ekranas took a 1-0 home victory, courtesy of Radavi?ius.

At the end of the first cycle, HJK took a good grip on the game. Medolla was an excellent place to launch, but Ekranas rejected the company's goalkeeper.

HJK applied to handicap the match and has been more dominant, but Ekranas tried to defend its leading position.

Hours after the game, the situation has not changed. HJK's coach Antti Muurinen applied more offensive power, but the results had never come despite consistently been able to create dangerous moves, according to HJK website.

HJK could not find places to break Ekranas defense, so the first leg ended 1-0 result.

In the build-up to defend the Finish title, Dawda Bah and HJK will meet KuPS Kuopio on Saturday. The Finish champions who are sure on driving onto another league title are leading the table by 30 points. Their closest opponents Demba Savage’s FC Honka are at 23 points, and on Sunday they will play away to MyPa.