OTP Bank Liga: Honvéd off the mark while Fehérvár move three points clear

Zalaegerszeg 1-1 Puskás Akadémia
Goalscorers: ZAL: Radó (43’, pen); PUS: Vaněček (36’)
Zalaegerszeg: Demjén – Bolla, Lesjak, Devecseri, Tamás K. – Kocsis G. – Barczi, Bedi, Mitrović (Hudák, 94’), Radó (Bobál, 81’) - Ikoba (Stieber, 52’)
Puskás Akadémia: Hegedüs L. – Szolnoki, Meissner, Hadzhiev, Nagy Zs. – Van Nieff, Urblík – Sós (Kiss T., 85’), Knežević, Henty (Gyurcsó, 55’) – Vaněček (Mebrahtu, 71’)

Puskás Akadémia took a 36th-minute lead away to Zalaegerszeg, former Hearts striker David Vaněček firing low into the corner from outside the penalty area after good play by Ezequiel Henty and Bence Sós. The home side equalised two minutes before the break, András Radó scoring against his former side from the penalty spot after he had been fouled in the box by Yoëll van Nieff.

Two Hungary international players came on for their respective club debuts in the second half – Zoltán Stieber for the home side and Ádám Gyurcsó for the visitors, but with neither side able to add to their tally, the points were shared, leaving Puskás in fifth place on seven points and Zalaegerszeg in eighth with four.

Debrecen 0-1 Kaposvár
Goalscorers: Ádám (9’)
Debrecen: Nagy S. – Bényei, Szatmári, Pávkovics, Ferenczi – Tőzsér (Kundrák, 82’) – Varga K., Haris, Trujić (Adeniji, 46’) – Szécsi, Garba
Kaposvár: Pogacsics – Vachtler, Hegedűs (Hadaró, 77’), Nagy T., Fodor – Nagy R. (Borbély, 89’), Szakály, Nagy J., Csiki (Poplatnik, 81’) – Ádám, Beliczky

Kaposvár spoilt the tenth anniversary celebrations of Debrecen’s UEFA Champions League run by taking an early lead at the Nagyerdei Stadion, Martin Ádám heading past Sándor Nagy following a corner in the ninth minute. Shocked into action, Debrecen dominated thereafter, Krisztián Pogacsics saving from Haruna Garba and Márk Szécsi coming close to levelling before the break. The home side stepped up the pressure in the second half, Pogacsics’ goal leading a charmed life as newly-promoted Kaposvár held on for all three points.

Fehérvár 3-0 Kisvárda
Goalscorers: Musliu (41’), Milanov (56’), Hodžić (77’) Fehérvár: Kovácsik – Nego, Juhász R., Musliu, Hangya – Nikolov, Huszti (Hadžić 84’) – Kovács I. (Fiola 83’), Milanov (Elek 75’), Petriak – Hodžić
Kisvárda: Felipe – Melnyk, Berios (Rubus 66.), Ene, Protic – Karasyuk (Tischler 81’), Lucas – Gosztonyi (Bumba 64’), Tsoukalas, Kovácsréti – Grozav

League leaders Fehérvár’s three goals in a comfortable home victory over Kisvárda all came from headers, Marko Nikolic’s side moving three points clear at the top in the process. Fehérvár dominated possession in the first half but had to wait until the 41st minute to break the deadlock, North Macedonian defender Visar Musliu heading home a Szabolcs Huszti free-kick for his first goal for the club. Another set-piece from Huszti in the 56th minute saw the Székesfehérvár side double their lead, Georgi Milanov arriving at the near post to glance home a corner from the right, and with Armin Hodžić converting Loïc Nego’s cross in the 77th minute for his fifth of the season, Fehérvár go in to the international break three points ahead of second-place Mezőkövesd.

Újpest 2-3 Honvéd
Goalscorers: ÚJP: Feczesin (4’), Lanzafame (91’, own goal); HON: Uzoma (10’), Moutari (27’), Gazdag (31’)

Újpest: Pajović – Balázs B., Máté (Szakály P., 67’), Ristevski, Bureković – Sanković, Onovo – Zsótér (Koszta, 58’), Nwobodo, Bjarnason (Simon, 46’) – Feczesin
Honvéd: Tujvel – Batik, Kamber, Niba (Lovrić, 71’) – Ikenne-King (Kukoč, 37’), Nagy G., Gazdag (Ben-Hatira, 66’), Kesztyűs, Uzoma – Moutari, Lanzafame

Giuseppe Sannino’s Honvéd fell behind to a fourth-minute goal from the returning Róbert Feczesin to shock their hosts at the Illovszky Rudolf Stadion as they replied with three goals in just over twenty minutes. Firstly, Eke Uzoma converted a teasing Patrick Ikenne-King cross at the back post after ten minutes. By the 27th minute, Honvéd were ahead, Amadou Moutari quickest to react to a knock-down as he drilled low into the net from fifteen yards. Dániel Gazdag dinked home Honvéd’s third just four minutes later and although Davide Lanzafame directed a fierce Dženan Bureković free kick past his goalkeeper Tomáš Tujvel in time added on, Honvéd held on for their first three points of the season as they move to within a point of their city rivals.

Mezőkövesd 0-2 Paks
Goalscorer: Hahn (22’ pen, 50’)

Mezőkövesd: Szappanos – Eperjesi, Pillár, Katanec, Vadnai (Vajda, 81.) – Pekár (Molnár, 56.), Karnitsky, Berecz, Cseri – Zivzivadze (Takács T., 56’), Nagy D.
Paks: Holczer – Osváth, Gévay, Fejes, Szabó – Könyves, Papp, Bartha (Fejős, 91’), Balogh (Remili, 83’) – Hahn (Windecker, 71’), Böde

High-flying Mezőkövesd came unstuck at home to Paks, a brace from János Hahn giving the visitors a 2-0 victory and the home side their first taste of defeat following four victories in a row. The first came from a penalty in the 20th minute, Hahn sending Péter Szappanos the wrong way, the second a header in the 50th minute from a László Bartha cross. Defensively strong, Paks withstood everything that Mezőkövesd could throw at them, the three points seeing Paks with seven points, whilst Mezőkövesd remain second but slip three points behind leaders Fehérvár.

Ferencváros 1-0 Diósgyőr
Goalscorer: Signevich (37’)

Ferencváros: Dibusz – Botka, Blažič, Dvali, Civic – Sigér (Haratin, 86’), Ihnatenko – Isael, Bőle (Varga, 79’), Zubkov (Frimpong, 91’) – Signevich
Diósgyőr: Danilovic – Shestakov, Brković, Karan, Tamás M., Vági (Polgár, 10’) – Hasani (Korbély, 89’), Márkvárt, Szabó B. (Tóth B., 65’) – Prosser, Tabaković

Ferencváros head coach Sergii Rebrov made six changes to the side that defeated Suduva 4-2 on Thursday to qualify for the Europa League group stage, but a rash tackle from one of those brought in – Isael – on Diósgyőr defender András Vági saw Fradi reduced to ten men after only seven minutes after Oleksandr Zubkov had rattled the woodwork.

Despite being a man down, Ferencváros dominated the first half, squandering the chance to take the lead in the 25th minute when Lukács Bőle saw his penalty saved by Branislav Danilović. The breakthrough came twelve minutes later, Eldar Čivić crossing in front of goal for Mikalay Signevich to stab home. The home side seemed content to conserve energy in a second half in which Diósgyőr were only seen in attacking sense sporadically, but with no further goals Ferencváros move up to seventh place with six points whilst Diósgyőr prop up the table with three.