Hungary Women secure important win over Ukraine

Hungary Women closed the year against Ukraine at the Várkerti Stadium in Kisvárda with an experienced starting line-up, Réka Szőcs in goal behind a defence of Luca Papp, Lilla Turányi, Laura Kovács and Viktória Szabó, ahead of whom were holding midfielders Evelin Fenyvesi and Henrietta Csiszár - on her 100th international appearance, a more advanced midfield three of Dóra Zeller, Anna Csiki and Fanni Vágó, with Bernadett Zágor as the lone striker.

Ukraine, meanwhile, had only just appointed their new head coach, the Lluis Cortez, who had most recently led the Barcelona women’s team until the end of last season. Four days earlier, Cortez's team had taken to the field in Scotland, where they achieved a 1-1 draw.

Hungary didn't take long to seize the initiative, record national-team goalscorer Vágó converting Zágor's pass in the 4th minute and doubling her tally with a free-kick which went in under the crossbar. Ukraine went close on a couple of occasions thereafter, but Dóra Zeller scored a fine solo goal after Csiszár had started the attack just before the half-hour mark.

There was to be no change to the scoreline for another 45 minutes, the visitors snatching a goal back in the 71st minute through Apanaschenko and then exerting enough pressure to score another in the 82nd minute courtesy of Khimich from the edge of the Hungary penalty area.

The hosts settled any nerves four minutes later though when substitutes Emőke Pápai and Loretta Németh combined for the latter to restore Hungary's two-goal advantage, the match finishing 4-2 despite further late pressure from the away team.

Margret Kratz, Hungary Women head coach: "We really wanted to win this match and in the first 20-30 minutes the team played great, we attacked and this is against a team that is 11 places ahead of us in the FIFA world rankings. We were brave and looked fresh when playing our football. It is a big step forward that we managed to win against a team drawn from the third pot (of Europe's seeded teams). In the second half, some of our weak points emerged, but let’s also keep in mind that I had to make two substitutions because of injury. Despite a slight disruption to our play at those times, the girls continued to fight".