Hungary Women outdone by Slovakia

This was an unfamiliar Hungarian national eleven for competitive fixtures, the inexperienced Barbara Bíró selected in goal and Hungary's German Bundesliga trio of Zsanett Jakabfi, Henrietta Csiszár and Dóra all unable to join up with the squad. Slovakia, on the other hand, were at full strength but even that meant little in an attritional first half which didn't feature any shots on target.

The second period was a different matter though and although both sides proved adept at cancelling each other out most of the time, there were at least shots and goals. Slovakia's Patrícia Hmírová set a more direct tone with a fierce drive off the crossbar in the 46th minute before the same player connected with a low, left-wing cross in the 68th minute and slid the ball into the far, right corner of the Hungary net despite Bíró's best efforts at keeping it out.

Twelve minutes later, the visitors doubled their lead when Mária Mikolajová capitalised on Hungary's failure to clear a corner by latching onto a subsequent cross and half-volleying the ball past Bíró into the far, left corner of the net from around 14 metres. Hungary's attempts at staging a comeback finally paid partial dividends in the 91st minute when Anna Csiki's superb trick past a defender and low pass across the box gave Pusztai the chance to finish past Slovak goalkeeper Maria Korenčiová. 

That was unfortunately too little, too late though and this narrow home defeat means it is likely, although not definite, Hungary will finish fourth behind Sweden, Iceland and Slovakia in their European Championship qualifying group, Markó's team having played two games more than their rivals and with only an away match against Iceland on 1st December remaining in their campaign.