OTP Bank Liga, round 15: Vidi up to second, Fradi fly the flag for Budapest

Playing on Saturday, league leaders Ferencváros defeated Kisvárda at the Groupama Aréna courtesy of two first-half goals from defenders Abraham Frimpong and Miha Blažić. Sergey Rebrov’s side completely dominated proceedings in the opening forty-five minutes but were more subdued in the second half, albeit they were never in any danger of relinquishing their advantage.

Budapest Honvéd and Újpest both dropped points at home having been in the lead. Mezőkövesd had started the livelier of the two sides at the Hidegkuti Stadion, but Honvéd slowly but surely began to impose themselves and took the lead in the 64th minute through Hungary international Filip Holender. Substitute Stefan Dražić got the equaliser with fourteen minutes left, and although Honvéd continued to press for the winner, he almost grabbed a late winner for Mezőkövesd but was thwarted by Dávid Gróf. Honvéd slip to five points behind Ferencváros and trail MOL Vidi – whom they play at the new MOL Aréna Sóstó this Sunday – on goal-difference.

Újpest missed out on the opportunity to rise above MTK and into fourth as they squandered a 1-0 lead at home to Paks. Giorgi Beridze had given Nebojša Vignjević’s side the lead just after the hour, but with just six minutes left, ex-Ferencváros man László Bartha scored a fine equaliser. MTK fell 3-2 away to struggling Diósgyőr, a result which sees the Miskolc club move three points above the relegation placings. 1-0 ahead thanks to a Béla Balogh own-goal after a quarter of an hour, Diósgyőr scored twice in the second half to go three up – Kosovan Florent Hasani and substitute Richárd Vernes the scorers – before Balázs Farkas replied for MTK with nine minutes remaining and then Sándor Torghelle converted a late, injury-time penalty as the hosts held on 3-2.

Puskás Akadémia got off to a great start against fellow strugglers Haladás, racing into a two-goal lead in just over a quarter of an hour. First, Tamás Kiss – celebrating his 18th birthday – opened the scoring from the edge of the box in the 12th minute, before he set up Josip Knežević to finish off a counter-attack in the 17th. A shell-shocked Haladás took time to recover their composure, and although much improved in the second half, struggled to create any clear-cut chances against a resolute Puskás rear guard. The result sees the Felcsút side move to within four points of Debrecen and Paks, whilst Haladás remain rooted at the foot of the table, one point behind Kisvárda and four from safety.

Having risen to within two points of Honvéd with last Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over Újpest in the inaugural match at the their new Székesfehérvár stadium – captain Roland Juhász the scorer –, Marko Nikolić’s MOL Vidi moved ahead of them on goal-difference courtesy of Loïc Nego’s late first-half opportunist strike against Debrecen at the Nagyerdei Stadion on Sunday. It’s second at home to third this Sunday as Vidi face Honvéd hot on the heels of their Europa League match away to BATE Borisov on Thursday, whilst all eyes will be on Vidi against Fradi in the final week of the autumn season a fortnight later.

OTP Bank Liga, week 15

Ferencváros 2–0 Kisvárda (HT: 2–0)
Scorers: Frimpong (21’), Blažić (33’)
Ferencváros: Dibusz – Lovrencsics G., Blažić, Frimpong, Heister – Sigér, Leandro (Rodríguez 75’) – Varga R., Gorriarán (Bőle 83’), Petrjak – Lanzafame (Böde 78’) Kisvárda: Felipe – Lukjancsuk, Beriosz, Ene, Vári B. – Lucas, Mitosevic (Karaszjuk 46’) – Gosztonyi, Milevszkij, De Oliveira (Ilic 76’) – Negrut (Horváth Z. 64’)

Budapest Honvéd 1–1 Mezőkövesd (0–0)
Scorers: HON: Holender (64’); MEZ: Dražić (76’)
Budapest Honvéd: Gróf – Batik (Nagy G. 58’), Kamber, Baráth – Heffler, Pilík (Škvorc, 60’), Hidi, Gazdag, Kukoc (N'Gog 78’) – Danilo, Holender
Mezőkövesd: Szappanos – Farkas D., Pillár, Szalai A., Silye – Cseri (Dražić, 73.), Szeles, Vadnai (Meskhi 86’) – Molnár G., Vajda (Szakály D. 90’), Koszta

Újpest 1–1 Paks (0–0)
Scorers: ÚJP: Beridze (61’); PAK: Bartha (84’)
Újpest: Pajović – Ristevski, Bojović, Pauljević, Bureković – Sanković, Onowo – Nwbodo (Balázs B. 85’), Zsótér (Diallo 82’), Beridze – Novothny (Nagy D. 62’)
Paks: Rácz – Kulcsár D., Gévay, Fejes, Báló – Papp K., Haraszti, Bertus (Bartha 70’), Egerszegi – Hahn (Vági 91’), Remili (Simon A. 59’)

Puskás Akadémia 2–0 Haladás (2–0)
Scorers: Kiss T. (12’), Knežević (17’)
Puskás Akadémia: Danilović – Osváth (Heris, 63.), Szolnoki, Hegedűs J., Poór, Trajkovski – Urblík, Varga J., Mioc – Kiss T. (Radó, 76.), Knežević (Bokros, 89.)
Haladás: Rózsa D. – Habovda, Kolcák, Grumic, Bosnjak – Mészáros K. (Rabusic, 68.), Dausvili, Kovács L., Ofosu (Halmosi, 78.) – Gaál B. (Bamgboye, 62.), Priskin

Diósgyőri VTK 3–2 MTK Budapest (2–0)
Scorers: DIÓ: Balogh (13’ OG), Hasani (41’), Vernes (71’); MTK: Farkas II B. (81’), Torghelle (95’ pen)
DVTK: Bukrán – Sesztakov, Brkovic, Karan, Tamás M. – Márkvárt – Hasani, Juhar (Bárdos 46’) – Tajti (Tóth 88’) – Szabó B., Mihajlovic (Vernes, 73’)
MTK: Kicsak – Baki, Pintér, Balogh, Szelin – Vass – Gera, Kanta (Torghelle 46’), Bognár (Kulcsár, 69’), Schäfer – Lencse (Farkas II B., 69’)

Debreceni VSC 0–1 MOL Vidi (0–1)
Scorer: Nego (41’)
Debrecen: Nagy S. – Kusnyír, Szatmári, Pávkovics, Barna (Ferenczi 78’) – Varga K. (Jovanovic 78’), Haris, Tőzsér, Bódi – Szécsi (Takács 59’), Avdijaj
MOL Vidi: Kovácsik – Fiola, Juhász, Vinicius, Stopira – Nikolov (Berecz, 83’) – Nego, Pátkai Hadžić – Hodžić (Milanov, 69’), Šćepović (Kovács 91’)