HJK blow Coleraine 5-0 in UEFA Conference League in Helsinki

HJK Helsinki (Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi) of Finland achieved a magnificent victory in the UEFA Conference League beating Coleraine FC of Northern Ireland by 5 goals to 0 at the Bolt Arena in Helsinki on Thursday night.

Legendary Finnish international Teemu Pukki scored double while Liam Möller, Pyry Mentu and Toivo Mero scored one goal each resulting the win in a big margin in the first leg of the second qualifying round in the tournament.

The hosts started the game with establishing supremacy over the visitors as Toivo Mero's curling effort from outside the box at the seventh minute created an opportunity, but the Coleraine goalkeeper made a good save.

The guests, however, failed to stop the HJK players from scoring for a longer period as Möller opened the scoring at 12^th minute followed by Mentu at 32^nd minute resulting end of the first half 2-0.

Foiling any move by Coleraine to either reducing or levelling the score, the HJK players continued to create pressure from the very beginning of the second half and Mero widened the gap to 3-0 at the 46^th minute.

Pukki came off the bench at 65^th minute to join the goal festival and shocked the struggling Coleraine further.

He scored the fourth goal for the team at 80^th minutes and the fifth goal within a span of two minutes sealing the victory for HJK by five goals to nil.

The second leg between HJK and Coleraine will be held in Larne, Northern Ireland on July 30.

Meanwhile, HJK Coach Joonas Rantanen expressed satisfaction over the performance of team on the home ground.

Speaking at the post-match press conference he said that he wanted the good start on the home ground as the condition and atmosphere on away ground are different.

He, however, expressed optimism to see a good result in the second leg also.

Pyry Mentu also spoke at the press conference and said that he was very happy to score his first ever goal in the European level tournament.