Having never previously won an away Veikkausliiga match against their noisy neighbours from across the Finnish capital, Gnistan have now won at HJK twice in the space of a season, coming from behind to win 3-2 and deal a serious blow to HJK's ambitions of regaining the league title.
Gnistan won at Bolt Arena 1-0 back in April to finally make HJK sit up and take notice of the team from across the city, as the record champions endured a dreadful start to the season, from which they have been playing catch-up ever since.
But with a title chase firmly on and virtually nothing for Gnistan to play for, this meeting in the Championship Group was expected to be a return to the norm, giving HJK the chance to move into second, two point behind Ilves.
That is how it seemed to be panning out early on, when the visitors failed to clear a corner and Lucas Lingman was there to pounce, powering the ball in from close range.
But with the half-hour mark approaching, Gnistan showed they were very much up for the fight - an Oliver Pettersson shot was saved by Ricardo Friedrich, only for the rebound was bundled in by Didrik Hafstad.
Just before the break, HJK restored their advantage when Santeri Hostikka set up the ever-reliable Teemu Pukki to take them into the break 2-1 ahead, however, they were not able to press home the advantage.
10 minutes after the restart, Roman Eremenko brought the visitors level again with a fierce low drive which arrowed into the bottom corner. With that one of few chances at either end in the second half, it looked increasingly like HJK would have to settle for a draw.
Yet in the third minute of added time, the unthinkable happened - Gnistan's Vertti Hanninen launched a free-kick forward, which was flicked on, and brought down by Tim Vayrynen, who stabbed home the winning goal.
With a League Cup win on the road as well, it is the third time Gnistan have got the better of HJK away from home in 2025. HJK remain in fourth, five points off the top, but now their four title rivals have a game in hand over them.
In the Relegation Group on Friday night, Haka threw away what would have been a first win in 13 matches, conceding two late goals to lose 2-1 at Jaro.
James Akintunde scored the opener with a quarter of the match to play, but strikes in the 87th and 97th minutes from Jaro's Rudi Vikstrom and Albin Bjorkskog turned things around in dramatic fashion for the hosts, who remain in eighth place.
Haka, therefore, remain in the Relegation Playoff place, but they will drop to the foot of the standings with only one match to play, should KTP get a point or more against Mariehamn on Saturday.
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