Jakabfi hands Hungary victory in Malta

2018. október. 05., 20:26 |

Hungary dominated this friendly international match throughout but they only secured a deserved win against their Mediterranean hosts thanks to Zsanett Jakabi's strike five minutes before half-time.

Hungary Women travelled on Thursday to Malta, where they'll play two friendly matches against their hosts. Edina Markó led her squad in an evening training session on their day of arrival before the players took to the pitch in Ta'Qali on Friday afternoon for the first of these two friendly fixtures.

As expected, Hungary dominated the match while Malta primarily relied on a counter-attacking strategy. The visitors' first attack came in the 12th minute when the home goalkeeper saved Jakabfi's effort and Fanni Vágó couldn't convert the rebound. Henrietta Csiszár twice came close to hitting the target before Wolfsburg striker Jakabfi put Hungary ahead in the 40th minute with an 18-metre drive which struck the post and nestled in the bottom-left corner of the net.

The second half brought nothing different with Jakabfi and Evelin Mosdóczi threatening the Maltese goal again before Markó's side were awarded a penalty, only for Vágó to strike the right post and see the ball rebound to safety. Late on, substitute Kinga Siklér spurned a chance to double Hungary's lead when she headed the ball over the crossbar.

Edina Markó, Hungary head coach: "Due to yesterday's travel and the late training session, we started the match in slightly slack, sloppy fashion but still on the basis of chances created we could still have put the game to bed as early as during the first half. It was just a question of how many opportunities we'd score and in the end we scored one goal in beating a well-organised, spirited and defensively-minded Malta team. I trust that we'll improve in attack in Monday's fixture and will be successful in scoring more goals".

Malta 0-1 Hungary (HT: 0-1)
Hungary (surnames first): Szőcs Réka - Mosdóczi Evelin (Tóth Alexandra, 70.), Turányi Lilla, Szeitl Szilvia, Szabó Viktória - Fenyvesi Evelin (Csányi Diána, 60.), Csiszár Henrietta (Papp Dóra, 82.) - Rácz Zsófia, Jakabfi Zsanett (Németh Loretta, 92.), Süle Dóra (Kocsán Petra, 60.) - Vágó Fanni (Siklér Kinga, 82.)
Goalscorers: Jakabfi 40.