Finland fell to a Kyle Lafferty brace in the latest round of EURO 2016 qualifying, leaving them eight points behind the Green and White Army going into matchday six. Joel Pohjanpalo came on just before half-time and was a constant menace for the home defence. Unfortunately for the Finns, he couldn't find a goal despite his best efforts.

"It was a tough match and Northern Ireland played to their own strengths really well," said the striker. He cited the inability to deal with those ball into the penalty area as a major factor in the result: "They scored two good goals from crosses. We needed to be better in the box and that's the reason why we lost."

Despite the defeat, he remained positive about still qualifying from their group: "Yea, if we win the rest of our matches I think we'll at least finish in third place. It's still possible, but it'll be really hard work."

After a barren run of form during the middle of the season, Fortuna Düsseldorf were in a similar position. However a win against SV Darmstadt 98 turned things around and now a late push for the Bundesliga could be on: "It's the same thing with us. We're six points from promotion with eight games left and we still have to play against Ingolstadt and Kaiserslautern," Pohjanpalo commented.

"Especially in the 2. Bundesliga everything is possible and if you win five games you'll be top of the table for sure. No-one is ever going to win five games and that's the best thing about the league, though we have to concentrate on doing that against St. Pauli on Monday."

The Finn has been icy cool in front of goal this season, and with Stefan Kiessling out of form, he has done himself the world of good in Bayer Leverkusen's books. "I'm going to be discussing that with the sporting directors and we'll see what happens," added the loan star.

"Of course I've got two-year loan with Fortuna but everyone has seen I've been playing well, with only 14 games in the starting eleven and 10 goals. It's been the perfect season for me and nobody has expected it.

"Everyone knows the level in the 2. Bundesliga is really high and I'm a young player who is taking steps forward all the time. I hope to play for Leverkusen as soon as possible."

Despite his desire to play in the top division of German football, he's very happy where he is: "I don't mind playing for Fortuna; I like it there. The city is great, the team is good and especially next season I think we have a really strong team and if we don't get promoted this season, maybe we'll do it next year."

Olli Reck was sacked after the aforementioned form, "Yea it's a shame [that he was sacked]. He's a good guy and a good coach and something that just happens." Pohjanpalo, after paying tribute to his former boss, was equally quick to praise Taskin Aksoy, the new man at the helm.

"We got a new coach and we got a great win against Darmstadt, who hadn't lost since the last time we played them. It's looking good now and we played really well, now we see what happens in the next eight games and where we are in the table at the end of the season."

A link to the interview's audio can be found here: soundcloud.com/jonny-walsh-1/joel-pohjanpalo-interview-post