Hungary Women edged out by Serbia

Both teams started on the front foot and both teams threatened to open the scoring in the first quarter of an hour, Tijana Filipovic going closest for the away team with a shot from distance which curled just over the crossbar.

In the 24th minute, Diána Csányi took Hungary's first corner kick and it seemed to be sailing straight into the Serbia net, only for goalkeeper Milica Kostic, who plays her club football for Hungarian giants Ferencváros, to beat the ball away at the last second.

For a period, Hungary head coach Alexandra Szarvas' side played more proactively and had more possession of the ball. In the 38th minute, Henrietta Csiszár's shot from the right was saved by the Serbian goalkeeper, but three minutes later, Hungary goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy was forced to block a shot from the left and then, in the 45th minute, Vesna Milivojevic curled a shot just wide of the top left corner of the hosts' right goal.

The second half began with the Belgian referee almost immediately showing two yellow cards, to Vesna Milivojevic and Tijana Filipovic, the former for a foul on Henrietta Csiszár and the latter for one on Diána Csányi. The match remained tense, with both teams pushing to attain the lead.

In the 56th minute, Viktória Szabó sent a corner kick towards Beatrix Fördős, whose shot flew wide of the goal. Six minutes later, Brzykcy had to save Vesna Milivojevic's shot following a Serbia corner and in the 68th minute, Allegra Poljak shot first, before Dóra Zeller's subsequent effort was thwarted by the Serbian goalkeeper's hand. The first and only goal arrived a minute later when Serbia regained possession, Nina Matejic worked her way into a good position and her shot from the penalty area found its way into Hungary's goal.

Hungary pushed strongly for an equaliser thereafter, but none was forthcoming so Serbia took the three points in what has to go down as a classic away performance and result.

In the other match in the group, Finland and Belarus contested a goalless draw, so Alexandra Szarvas' team awaits Tuesday's match against hosts Finland in third spot in the group with three points.

"Both teams went for it at the beginning, but we knew that today would be a match which would be decided by one or two moments. Unfortunately, we still need to improve on our use of opportunities, since in such evenly-balanced matches there are not usually many opportunities, and if they arise, they have to be scored. However, if a mistake, such as a bad pass, slips through the defence, the opponent can score a goal, as we saw today. Despite the defeat, we played well, and we approached the game with the right mentality," Szarvas stated after the match.

Hungary 0-1 Serbia (HT: 0-0)

Hungary (surnames first): Brzykcy Lauren - Kovács Laura, Fördős Beatrix, Németh Hanna, Németh Diána - Nagy Fanni (Papp Luca, 64), Csiszár Henrietta - Zeller Dóra, Csányi Diána (Pusztai Sára, 75), Szabó Viktória (Pápai Emőke, 64) - Csiki Anna (Nagy Virág, 86).