OTP Bank Liga: Late Huszti strike keeps Vidi in title race

League leaders Ferencváros had failed to defeat Paks in their last four meetings at the Groupama Aréna, and with Marcel Heister suspended and Gergő Lovrencsics, Endre Botka, Kenneth Otigba, Igor Haratin, Fernando Gorriarán and Stefan Spirovski unavailable, head coach Serhiy Rebrov gave Zsombor Takács his league debut at right-back, while also playing Tokmac Nguen and Lukács Bőle in unfamiliar midfield roles.

Fradi raced into a 29-second lead, Bence Lenzsér deflecting a wayward Lasha Dvali effort past Gergely Nagy. The home side almost doubled their lead three minutes later, a Mikalay Signevich header coming of the crossbar, but they had to wait until the second half to make the game safe. First, in the 50th minute, Nagy could only deflect a Bőle effort into the path of Nguen, the Norwegian winger scoring from close-range, and then, with ten minutes left to play, substitute Dániel Böde kept his composure to slot home from eight yards as Fradi extended their unbeaten home record in the league to 34 matches.

Later in the evening and in the knowledge that Fradi had extended their lead to eleven points, Vidi took on Honvéd at the Hidegkuti Stadion. The Kispest side started brightly, Filip Holender testing Ádám Kovácsik in the 23rd minute after outpacing the Vidi defence. With neither side able to create much in the way of goalscoring opportunities the match progressed, scoreless, Vidi coming closest in the 80th minute when Dávid Gróf did well to block a powerful Stopira effort from near the byline. The visitors continued to press for a winner in the last ten minutes and got their reward in the 90th minute when an unmarked Szabolcs Huszti – on for Georgi Milanov – headed a Stopira cross from the left past an exposed Gróf. The 1-0 victory means that Vidi remain eight points behind Fradi at the top with six matches left to play – including an enticing-looking Fradi-Vidi encounter in a fortnight’s time.

The race for the second Europa League place remains tight, Újpest three points ahead of Debrecen on 46 points following their third victory in a row, a 2-1 victory at home to Mezőkövesd. A goal down to a first-half Stefan Drazic strike, Újpest scored twice in the last six minutes to turn the match around, Lacina Traoré scoring from the spot in the 84th minute after Branko Pauljević was adjudged to have been fouled in the box, and then Donát Zsótér scoring with a lob from 35 yards after dispossessing Bence Iszlai and spotting keeper Péter Szappanos off his line.

Debrecen remain in the hunt courtesy of a 3-1 victory at home to MTK. János Ferenczi was effectively the match-winner, opening the scoring with a low, placed shot from just inside the box in the 5th minute, and volleying home from a couple of yards further out in the 21st minute. Sándor Torghelle got MTK back in the match fifteen minutes later, lashing home from an acute angle after being played in by József Kanta, but Loki made sure of the three points midway through the second half, Ádám Bódi volleying Ferenczi’s deep cross past László Horvath in the MTK goal.

Rui Pedro scored the only goal of the game as Haladás won their fourth match in five, the 1-0 victory away to Diósgyőr seeing the Szombathely side now only six points away from safety on 22 points. Diósgyőr are now second-bottom on 27 points, Kisvárda having overtaken them on 28 courtesy of a 4-0 victory away to ten-man Puskás Akadémia which leaves the team from Felcsút on 30 points after two defeats in a row. Paks, following their defeat at Ferencváros, remain eighth but are just a point ahead of Puskás Akadémia and now appear to be embroiled in the battle to avoid relegation after picking up just one point from a possible 15 in their last five fixtures.

Ferencváros 3-0 Paks (HT: 1-0)
Goalscorers: Lenzsér (1’ own goal), Nguen (50’), Böde (80’)
Ferencváros: Dibusz - Takács Zs., Blažić, Frimpong, Dvali - Leandro, Bőle - Isael (Varga R., 73’), Nguen (Szerető, 83’), Petrjak - Signevich (Böde, 73’)
Paks: Nagy G. - Kővári, Lenzsér (Szabó J., 56’), Bobál, D., Fejes - Könyves, Zsidai, Windecker (Egerszegi, 77’), Kesztyűs, Hahn (Remili, 77’) - Simon A.

Honvéd 0-1 Vidi (0-0)
Goalscorer: Huszti (90’)
Honvéd: Gróf - Batik, Kamber, Lovric - Mezghrani, Heffler, Nagy G., Gazdag, Uzoma - Danilo (N'Gog, 63’), Holender Vidi: Kovácsik - Nego, Juhász, Vinícius, Stopira - Pátkai, Hadzic (Elek, 81’) - Kovács I., Nikolov (Hodzic, 65’), Milanov (Huszti, 73’) - Futács

Újpest 2-1 Mezőkövesd (0-1)
Goalscorers: ÚJP: Traoré (85’), Zsótér (86’); MEZ: Drazic (22’)
Újpest: Pajovic - Pauljevic, Ristevski, Litauszki, Burekovic - Sankovic, Diallo (Onovo, a szünetben) - Rácz, Nagy D. (Zsótér, a szünetben), Nwobodo (Beridze, 12.) - Traoré
Mezőkövesd: Szappanos - Farkas D., Szalai A., Katanec, Silye - Meszhi, Szeles (Bertus, 66.), Moutari (Vajda, 86.) - Drazic, Iszlai, Molnár G.

Debrecen 3-1 MTK (2-1)
Goalscorers: DEB: Ferenczi J. (5’, 21’), Bódi (69’); MTK: Torghelle (36’)
Debrecen: Nagy S. - Bényei, Kinyik, Pávkovics, Ferenczi J. - Varga K. (Csősz, 56’), Haris (Jovanovic, 85’), Tőzsér, Bódi - Szécsi, Takács T. (Zsóri, 65’)
MTK: Horváth L. - Balogh B., Pintér Á., Gengeliczki - Katona, Kanta J., Vass Á. (Schön, 46’), Bognár I., Szelin - Gera D. (Lencse, 84’), Torghelle (Diallo, 77’)

Diósgyőr 0-1 Haladás (0-0)
Goalscorer: Rui Pedro (77’)
Diósgyőr: Antal - Polgár, Brkovic, Tamás M. - Sesztakov, Szabó B., Mazalovic (Prosser, 62’), Tajti (Mihajlovic, 84’), Juhar - Bacsa, Hasani
Haladás: Rózsa - Habovda, Jagodics, Tamás L., Németh Mi. - Holdampf - Ivanov, Golodiuk, Rui Pedro (Mohl, 88’), Ofosu (Bamgboye, 76’) - Rabusic (Priskin, 68’)

Puskás Akadémia 0-4 Kisvárda (0-2)
Goalscorers: Gosztonyi (18’), Grozav (31’), Melnyik (54’), Horváth Z. (70’ penalty)
Puskás Akadémia: Hegedűs L. - Szolnoki, Latifi (Kiss T., 60’), Poór, Nagy Zs. - Hadzsijev, Spandler - Sós, Knezevic (Arabuli, 78’), Urblik - Radó
Kisvárda: Felipe - Melnyik, Beriosz, Kravcsenko (Ene, 81’), Protic - Karaszjuk, Bertucci - Gosztonyi (Negrut, 66’), Cukalasz, Grozav - Ilic (Horváth Z., 58’)