Hungary's first ever victory over England came 86 years ago today

By the fourth decade of the 20th century, Hungary had joined England as an established name on the international football scene, despite the absence of both from the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 - England having withdrawn from FIFA in 1928 and Hungary having experienced funding- and player availability issues. For various reasons though, the two nations hadn't met on a football pitch for nigh on a quarter of a century - since four goals from Vivian Woodward had propelled the British islanders to an 8-2 success at the Millenáris pitch in Budapest in 1909.

Thus, there was great interest in the nations' fourth ever contest on 10th May at Üllői út, home of one of Hungary's biggest clubs, Ferencváros of Budapest. Perhaps wary of even tougher matches than on previous trips, England had brought with them arguably their strongest possible lineup, including the likes of Frank Moss, Eddie Hapgood and Cliff Bastin - the latter féted as "perhaps the world's best striker" by eminent Austrian football personality Hugo Meisl in the build-up - from newly-crowned English champions Arsenal and Sunderland's outstanding prospect Horatio 'Raich' Carter, who would become an English league and cup winner within the following three years.

For Hungary, Ferencváros players dominated the lineup with five in total, legendary forward duo György Sárosi and Géza Toldi spearheading the attack alongside teammate Tibor Kemény, the prolific István Avar of Újpest and Ede Rökk of the Budai 11 club, albeit the latter was a late arrival at the ground.

There were contrasting messages from the respective trainers before the match; while England's Tom Whittaker could be heard telling his players they'd "win 5-0" as they entered the tunnel, Hungary's Ödön Nádas said to his troops: "Boys, I just ask of you that you throw yourselves into it from the first minute. The Engish aren't demi-gods; they can be beaten too", before then turning to right-winger Ede Rökk: "Edus, you'll get 100 cigarettes for every goal... nicotine ones!"

So at 17:30, in front of a 35,000 crowd which included Crown Prince József and British Ambassador Sir Patrick Ramsay, Sárosi kicked the match off by passing to Toldi. The visitors controlled the opening minutes of the match but Hungary grew in confidence as they started to supply their forwards with better passes, Toldi controlling Avar's cross on his chest but firing his side's first shot over the crossbar from 16 metres.

The English players were pressuring the man in possession of the ball at every opportunity, so dribbling and trickery was a dangerous ploy for the hosts, thus they relied more on a passing game to threaten their opponents' goal. Kemény shook the sidenetting in the 14th minute and Avar blasted wide seven minutes later, while at the other end, Bastin served notice of his intent when he fierceIy drove the ball just centimetres over Hungary's crossbar from 25 metres. There were several dangerous situations for both sides thereafter, but a combination of good defending from the likes of László Sternberg for the hosts and the opposing captain Thomas Cooper and ineffective finishing meant the game remained goalless at the half-time break.

A buoyant Hungary emerged from their dressing room in fresh, paprika-red jerseys for the second half and again the home team were more than a match for their opponents, a conclusion one couldn't help but draw in the 56th minute once Toldi had headed Rökk's right-wing cross back across goal for István Adar to sweep the ball low past Moss in the England goal. Twelve minutes later, a seemingly certain equaliser was averted when Antal Szalay diverted the ball for a corner under the noses of two waiting English forwards and just a minute later, the home team took full advantage by doubling their lead, Sárosi exchanging passes with Toldi before planting the ball firmly past Moss into the bottom-right corner of the net from ten metres.

Hungary's dominance was there for all to see and they were even unlucky not to score a third goal in the 78th minute, Avar beating Moss to Sárosi's header but only able to head the ball onto the crossbar with the English goal gaping. England sensed they were still in with a chance and halved the deficit with nine minutes left through a debut strike by Manchester City's Fred Tilson, Carter with the assist.

Roared on by vociferous and thrilled home crowd, Hungary maintained their attacking intent and Kemény, Sárosi and Todi all missed chances to settle the contest in the closing minutes. Hungary goalkeeper József Háda was equal to Samuel Crook's long-range effort in preserving the hosts' slim advantage and Rökk spurned a prize of 100 cigarettes by missing the last chance of the match before Italian referee Rinaldo Barlassina blew the full-time whistle.

Congratulations abounded thereafter, Nádas thanking his players for: "for making the day so unspeakably happy for him and for the football-loving Hungarian public too", the visiting former Ferencváros legend István 'Potya' Tóth echoing those sentiments and England captain Cooper coming into the home dressing room to shake the hand of his Hungarian counterpart Sternberg.

This victory was to be a huge boost to Hungary ahead of the forthcoming FIFA World Cup in Italy a few weeks later, where they beat Egypt in the first round 4-2 before being edged out 2-1 by highly-fancied Austria in the quarter-finals. England, still not back in the FIFA fold, would gain a measure of revenge over Hungary two years later with a 6-2 win at Highbury but perhaps we should rather look at the teamsheet from the next-but-one match at Üllői út after this sensational 2-1 victory for a real link to the future.

Ferencváros wrapped up the 1933/34 Hungarian league title there just three days later with a 7-4 victory over near neighbours Kispest, for whom a certain Ferenc Purczeld played. A year or so later, this steady but unremarkable footballer would change his name to Puskás, as would his family, among them his young son also named Ferenc, and nearly twenty years later, this young boy would captain Hungary to their most famous victory of all, the 6-3 success at Wembley when the 'Magical Magyars' would become the first foreign team to beat England at the so-called 'Home of Football'.

10/05/1934, Üllői út, Budapest, 35.000

HUNGARY 2-1 ENGLAND [HT 0-0]

Goalscorers:

Hungary: Istvan Avar 56' György Sárosi 69', England: Fred Tilson 84'

HUN: József Háda, József Vágó, László Sternberg [c], Antal Szalay, György Szűcs, Gyula Lázár, Ede Rökk, István Avar, György Sárosi, Géza Töldi, Tibor Kemény.

ENGLAND: Frank Moss, Thomas Cooper [c], Edris Hapgood, Lewis Stoker, Ernest Hart, Horace Burrows, Samuel Crooks, Horatio Carter, Fred Tilson, Cliff Bastin, Eric Brook.

Referee: Barlassina (Italy)

Footage of the 1934 match can be found here: https://youtu.be/iah6jZ6aN-Q
Additional sources: Nemzeti Sport newspaper and magyarfutball.hu.