Champions falter while seven-team relegation battle intensifies

Serhiy Rebrov’s Ferencváros lost 3-2 away to Honvéd in round 30 of the OTP Bank Liga, but having taken to the pitch as league champions thanks to nearest challengers Vidi being held at home by struggling Puskás Akadémia, the match was ostensibly of more importance to the hosts as they attempted to make up ground in the fight for a UEFA Europa League place.

Honvéd twice took the lead, only for Fradi to draw level on both occasions. Eke Uzoma scored the first in the 36th minute after Dénes Dibusz had palmed a Danilo effort into his path, Igor Haratin equalising in the 54th from a Lukács Bőle corner. Honvéd regained the lead in the 62nd minute, Uzoma’s cross deflecting off Marcel Heister to Änis Ben-Hatira who made no mistake in front of goal. Substitute Tokmac Nguen gave Fradi parity for a second occasion, Davide Lanzafame teeing him up with a deft, cushioned pass from a Gergő Lovrencsics cross in the 73rd minute, but almost immediately, Ben-Hatira added another for Honvéd, the Tunisian new-recruit coolly dinking a shot past an out-of-position Dibusz after intercepting the goalkeeper’s wayward clearance. The victory means that Honvéd are now only four points behind Debrecen and Újpest in the race for a Europa League place.

Újpest and Debrecen drew 1-1 at the Szusza Stadion, as the Lilák celebrated the 50th anniversary of reaching the 1968/69 Inter-City Fairs Cup final, in the company of players from final-opponents Newcastle United. Róbert Litauszki haven given the home side a 41st minute lead as he latched onto a free kick from Donát Zsótér. Barnabás Rácz twice came close to doubling that lead early in the second half, but Debrecen rallied, Filip Pajović twice saving Újpest before Dániel Tőzsér finally levelled in the 78th minute with a firm 15-yard strike low into the corner. The draw sees both sides on 48 points in the battle for third place.

Reigning champions Vidi bowed out of this season’s title race as they drew 1-1 at home against struggling Puskás Akadémia. Georgi Milanov had given Vidi a 54th minute lead from the penalty spot after István Kovács had been fouled just inside the box by Zsolt Nagy. The goal which did for Vidi came with only six minutes remaining, a Josip Knežević shot ricocheting off Ádám Kovácsik and Roland Juhász, the keeper only able to divert the goalward deflection into his net to give the visitors from Felcsút a vital point as they battle to avoid relegation.

Haladás, Paks and Mezőkövesd did themselves did their chances of escaping the drop no harm at all, all three sides winning – against fellow strugglers Kisvárda, MTK and Diósgyőr, respectively. Haladás won their sixth in eight courtesy of strikes from Ferencváros loanees Tamás Priskin and Rui Pedro, whilst János Hahn scored the only goal of the game for Paks. Goals from László Pekár, Tamás Cseri and Amadou Moutari would appear to make Mezőkövesd relatively safe in 6th place on 38 points, whilst Puskás Akadémia and Paks, both on 35, will be looking nervously over their shoulders at MTK on 34, Kisvárda on 32, and Diósgyőr on 31. Haladás remain bottom on 28 points ahead of the visit of Paks next week in yet another relegation six-pointer.

Honvéd 3–2 Ferencváros (HT: 1–0)
Goalscorers: HON: Uzoma (36’), Ben-Hatira (62’, 76’); FER: Haratin (54’), Nguen (73’)

Honvéd: Gróf – Batik, Kamber, Kálnoki Kis, Uzoma – Heffler, Nagy G., Fousseni, Ben-Hatira (Szendrei, 83’) – Danilo, Holender (Májer, 78’)
Ferencváros: Dibusz – Lovrencsics, Blažić, Dvali, Heister – Haratin, Leandro (Nguen, 63’) – Petrjak (Böde, 80’), Bőle (Gorriarán, 70’), Isael – Lanzafame

Újpest FC–Debrecen 1–1 (1–0)
Goalscorers: ÚJP: Litauszki (41’); DEB: Tőzsér (78’)
Újpest: Pajović – Pauljević, Ristevski, Litauszki, Burekovic – Onovo, Kovács L. (A. Diallo, 76’) – Zsótér (Simon K. 69’), Rácz, Beridze (Solomon, 87’) – Traoré
Debrecen: Nagy S. – Bényei, Pávkovics, Szatmári, Ferenczi – Tőzsér – Csősz (Varga K., 51’), Bódi (Kinyik, 78’), Haris, Szécsi – Takács T. (Zsóri, 56’)

Vidi 1–1 Puskás Akadémia (0–0)
Goalscorers: VID: Milanov (54’, pen); PUS: Juhász (84’, own goal)
Vidi: Kovácsik – Stopira, Juhász R., Vinícius, Tamás K. – Nego, Nikolov, Pátkai - Kovács I., Milanov (Hodžić 89’) – Futács (Šćepović 70’)
Puskás Akadémia: Hegedüs L. – Poór (Heris 84’), Hegedűs J., Hadzsiev, Nagy Zs. – Mioc, Szolnoki – Sós (Radó 73’), Vega, Szakály P. (Kiss T. 61’) – Knežević

Kisvárda 1–2 Haladás (1–2)
Goalscorers: KIS: Grozav (11’); HAL: Priskin (24’, pen), Rui Pedro (28’)

Kisvárda: Felipe – Melnyik, Beriosz, Kravcsenko, Lukjancsuk (Protic, 82’) – Karaszjuk, Ene (Ilic, 67’) – Gosztonyi (Hugo Seco, 72’), Cukalasz, Grozav – Horváth Z.
Haladás: Király – Habovda, Jagodics, Németh Mi., Mohl (Tamás L., 76’) – Dausvili – Bamgboye, Goldojuk (Holdampf, 71’), Rui Pedro, Ivanov – Priskin (Ofosu, 66’)

Paks 1–0 MTK (1–0) Goalscorer: Hahn (25’)

Paks: Nagy G. – Kővári, Lenzsér, Fejes, Szabó J. – Papp K., Simon Á. (Remili, 69’) – Kesztyűs (Kecskés, 60’), Windecker, Bartha – Hahn (Egerszegi, 80’)
MTK: Horváth L. – Katona (Banahene, 85’), Pintér Á., Gengeliczki, Szelin – Kanta – Lencse (Kulcsár, 65’), Vogyicska, Bognár I., Vass (Mihajlovic, 84’) – Torghelle

Mezőkövesd 3–0 Diósgyőr (1–0)
Goalscorers: Pekár (18’), Cseri (76’), Moutari (86’)

Mezővesd: Szappanos – Farkas, Pillár, Katanec, Eperjesi – Meszhi, Iszlai – Vajda (Moutari, 71.), Pekár (Cseri, 65’), Bertus – Drazic (Koszta, 86’)
Diósgyőr: Antal – Polgár, Brkovic, Tamás – Sesztakov, Szabó (Tajti, 80’), Márkvárt, Tóth (Vernes, 33’), Juhar (Korbély, 58’) – Hasani, Prosser