FK Riteriai coach impressed with Europa League opponents Derry City

Indeed, Finland native Pikkarainen has been impressed with the Candy Stripes and claims his side must improve to ensure a home win at the LFF Stadium in Vilnius tonight.

When paired with Derry in the draw earlier this month, the Riteriai coach claims he didn’t mind who they got as long as it wasn’t a team from Finland, particularly Inter Turku where he served as assistant manager in 2000.

“I was just happy that we got a home game and also that we missed the Finnish team,” claimed Pikkarainen.

“I don’t know too much about the League of Ireland but fortunately nowadays it’s easy to get information on any team or League in Europe,” he said.

“And Derry are a good team. They have some very good players, both in defence and offence. We need to play well to beat them, that’s for sure.”

Pikkarainen watched Derry’s 3-1 comeback victory over Cork City at Brandywell last Friday night and was impressed by the second half turnaround.

“They played very well indeed. Their passing was really good and in the end they deserved to win the game.”

The Lithuanians sit bottom of the A Lyga having accumulated just eight points from their opening 16 games.

Finland native, Pikkarainen was appointed manager of the ‘Knights’ at the beginning of August, joining after a two year spell with TPS in the Finnish top flight.

The 50 year-old former player guided the struggling Lithuanian club to a quarter-final victory over DFK Dainava in the Lithuanian Cup in his first game in charge.

However, he has yet to record victory in two attempts in the league campaign.

They go into tonight’s first round qualifier with confidence, however, following a decent performance in the 2-2 draw against second placed, Zalgiris.

“The result was okay and the performance itself was much better. I still think that we need to improve from that game to go through to the next round on Tuesday.”

Riteriai have enjoyed an extra day to prepare for the game and Pikkarainen is looking forward for his first managerial experience in European competition.

“Preparations have gone pretty well. We have had enough time to recover and prepare, the team is really looking forward to the game and I feel that we will be ready on Tuesday night.

“I have been here only a couple of weeks so it’s probably better not to say too much about what my ambitions are for the season, but certainly on Tuesday we want to go through to the next round. That is the only thing we are focusing on at the minute.”

The game was in doubt over the weekend after the Lithuanian government imposed new Covid-19 travel restrictions on those arriving from the UK and Ireland. Derry were awarded special dispensation under the elite athletes exemption ruling.

However, the Riteriai manager admits he was slightly concerned the game would not go ahead.

“Of course I was,” he said. “As was probably anyone reading the news. I’m just really happy that we get to play.

“The Europa League is very important for the club. Whatever way you look at it, it is the most important single game of this post Covid era.”

So how does he envisage the match going tonight?

“It will be a tough one,” he predicted. “Both teams have a chance and in the end small details will make the difference.”

The Derry team flew out from City of Derry airport at 6.00a.m. yesterday on a charter flight and given the travelling involved and the ‘special conditions’ due to the Coronavirus, Pikkarainen believes it will give his side an added advantage.

“Travelling in all these special conditions etc, and the home pitch will help us a bit. I don’t think it’s going to be that hot so the conditions will be fine but the pitch will also give us a small advantage.”

Incidently, the match officials for tonight’s tie are referee, Ville Nevalainen and his assistants Sami Nykanen and Turk Joonas Valjakka who all hail from Finland.