Heroic Hungary secure success in Serbia

Head coach Marco Rossi opted for his usual three-man defence of Willy Orbán, Attila Szalai and Ádám Lang in front of Dénes Dibusz in goal. They were supported by a four-man midfield of Milos Kerkez, Ádám Nagy, Callum Styles and Loic Nego who sat behind Roland Sallai and captain Dominik Szoboszlai in the forward playmaking areas with Barnabás Varga - in prodigious recent goalscoring form for his club Ferencváros - even further forward as the team's lone striker. Thus, the average age of the starting lineup came in at a reassuringly athletic and experienced 27.5 years.

Despite a reduced capacity comprising children and guardians in the stadium in Belgrade due to a UEFA punishment, hosts Serbia settled earliest and took a tenth-minute lead when Szalai could only direct a Vlahovic pass across goal into his own net. To their credit though, Hungary rolled with the blow and redoubled their efforts to compete, so successfully indeed that within half an hour they had turned the match on its head.

Firstly, in the 34th minute, Sallai reacted quickest to his own shot ten metres from goal being beaten out by Serbia goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić and diverted the ball for Varga to slot into the right side of the goal from the left corner of the six-yard box and level the scores - his 15th goal in just 13 appearances this season for club and country.

Even better was to follow just two minutes later, Rossi's charges surged into a sensational lead, Lang's whipped cross from the left wing superbly converted by fellow defender Orbán into the top-left corner of the Serbia net for his sixth international goal in 42 matches.

Thereafter, the away team defended stoically and gave Serbia very few opportunities to equalise, although Dibusz had to be alert to superbly beat out Vlahovic's powerful, close-range shot from under the crossbar just before the hour mark and palmaway a low header from the same player a few minutes later. Amongst the Hungary substitutions, MTK's Mihály Kata came on for his international debut as Rossi sought to manage the game to a successful conclusion. The home team's last chance to salvage a point came in second-half added time, but Nemanja Gudelj fired the ball just wide with his left foot from just outside the penalty area and the match drew to a close with no further scares.

At the halfway stage in Group G, Hungary are three points clear at the top with 10 while Serbia stay in touch on seven. In the group's other fixture of the day, Lithuania and Montenegro drew 2-2, a result which sees the latter in third on five points and the former on just two, both now left with a huge task to claw their way back into contention for European Championship qualification. Hungary, meanwhile, are understandably in buoyant mood ahead of Sunday's friendly match with Czech Republic.