OTP Bank Liga: Leading teams slip up

Ferencváros 2-2 Puskás Akadémia
Goalscorers: FTC: Zubkov (7, 40); PUS: Henty (52, 77)

Ferencváros: Dibusz – Lovrencsics, Blažič, Frimpong, Civic – Kharatin, Sigér (Ihnatenko, 78) – Zubkov, Nguen (Varga R., 88), Isael – Boli (Signevich, 63)
Puskás Akadémia: Hegedüs L. – Radics, Meissner, Hadzhiev, Spandler – Van Nieff – Sós, Henty, Knežević, Gyurcsó – Vaněček

Oleksandr Zubkov scored twice in the first half as Ferencváros led 2-0 at half-time against Puskás Akadémia in the Groupama Aréna, but a rejuvenated visiting side hit back in the second half, Ezekiel Henty scoring twice to give Zsolt Hornyák’s side a share of the points.

Zubkov struck to give Serhiy Rebrov’s side a seventh-minute lead, cutting from the left and sending a curling shot high into the top corner of the net, and when Bence Sós redirected a Tokmac Nguen pass into his path in the 40th minute he made no mistake for goal number two.

Henty reduced the deficit in the 52nd minute, heading home unmarked from Ádám Gyurcsó’s left-side cross as Puskás Akadémia ventured into attack. Lajos Hegedüs denied Isael and then Dénes Dibusz twice thwarted the Felcsút club, but there was little he could do when Henty bundled the ball over the line from close range after Fradi had failed to deal with a free-kick. The result sees Fradi with a four-point lead and a game in hand with one round of matches left before the end of the year.

Fehérvár 0-2 Paks
Goalscorers: Szabó J. (54), Könyves (78)

Fehérvár: Kovácsik – Nego, Musliu (Zsóri 85’), Juhász R., Stopira – Nikolov (Milanov 62’), Pátkai, Elek – Kovács I., Petriak (Bamgboye 75’) – Futács Paks: Rácz G. – Osváth, Gévay, Lenzsér, Kelemen D., Szabó J. – Kecskés, Simon Á. (Papp K. 66’), Windecker (Balogh B. 86’) – Hahn (Könyves 57’), Böde

Paks began strongly at the MOL Aréna Sóstó, Tamás Kecskés testing Ádám Kovácsik early on, whilst at the other end Ákos Elek came close with a long-range half-volley and Gergő Rácz did well to deny Stopira. Goalless at half-time, the match turned in Paks’s favour in the second period, János Szabó giving them the lead in the 54th minute when he poked the ball past Kovácsik from a tight angle following a Kecskés free-kick. Fehérvár then squandered opportunities to level the score before Norbert Könyves secured all three points with twelve minutes to play, after cutting in from the left and sending a low, curling effort just inside the far post.

Mezőkövesd 0-1 Diósgyőr
Goalscorer: Rui Pedro (90’)

Mezőkövesd: Szappanos – Farkas D., Pillár, Katanec, Silye – Berecz, Karnitsky – Cseri, Nagy D. (Vajda, 70’), Pekár (Sajbán, 70’) – Zivzivadze
Diósgyőr: Danilovic – Orosz D., Polgár, Brković, Tamás M. – Vági, Iszlai – Hasani, Rui Pedro, Prosser (Bacsa, 56’) – Ivanovski (Korbély, 92’)

Mezőkövesd were also on the receiving end of a home defeat, succumbing to Rui Pedro’s late winner for Diósgyőr. The result means that none of the top four picked up three points this weekend, whilst Diósgyőr climb to ninth place, five points from a relegation place.

The home side had done most of the attacking, Branislav Danilović’s goal leading a charmed life as Mezőkövesd missed a host of chances, but they were undone a by a goal in the last minute as Rui Pedro was found in space on the right-hand side of the box by Patrik Bacsa, at which point he turned inside and fired low into the corner of the goal past a stranded Péter Szappanos to give Tamás Feczkó’s side their third victory in five matches.

Újpest 1-0 Kisvárda
Goalscorer: Nwobodo (33)

Újpest: Banai – Pauljević, Heris, Ristevski, Bureković – Sanković – Onovo, Nwobodo, Zsótér (Szakály P., 92.), Bjarnason (Simon, 63.) – Feczesin
Kisvárda: Zöldesi – Gosztonyi, Rubus, Kravchenko, Protić (Kovácsréti, 87’) – Lucas, Karasyuk – Hugo Seco (Bumba, 57’), Tsoukalas, Sassá (Tischler, 64’) – Grozav

Újpest moved up to fifth place on goal-difference ahead of Honvéd courtesy of a slender 1-0 victory over a resilient Kisvárda at the Illovszky Stadion, Obinna Nwobodo scoring the only goal of the game in the 33rd minute.

The home side had had the bulk of the pressure in the opening half-hour but with little to show for their efforts, but when Nwobodo cut in from the right touchline to fire goalward his effort deflected off Anton Kravchenko and past Illés Zöldesi at the near post. Chances were few and far between in the second half, Donát Zsótér testing Zöldesi in the 65th minute and Vincent Onovo doing likewise moments later, whilst Claudiu Bumba will wonder how he blasted over the goal from close range with the goal gaping after good work by Gheorghe Grozav on the right with nine minutes left to play.

Debrecen 1-1 Honvéd
Goalscorers: DEB: Varga K. (62); HON: Batik (45+1)

Debrecen: Košický – Bényei, Szatmári, Pávkovics, Ferenczi – Haris - Kusnyír (Trujić, 46’), Tőzsér, Bódi, Varga K. (Adeniji, 84’) – Garba Honvéd: Tujvel – Batik, Kamber, Lovrić – Uzoma, Vadócz, Nagy G., Kesztyűs (Banó-Szabó, 74’), Aliji (Kukoč, 91’) – Lanzafame, Moutari (Cipf, 69’)

Debrecen and Honvéd shared the points at the Nagyerdei Stadion, the home side coming back from a goal down at the break. Bence Batik had given Giuseppe Sannino’s side the lead in first-half injury time, heading home a Davide Lanzafame cross from the right after he himself had started the move.

Kevin Varga got the equaliser in the 62nd minute, blasting home unmarked in the penalty area from Ádám Bódi’s flighted cross from the byline. Amadou Moutari and Krisztián Vadócz both came close for the visitors thereafter before Honvéd had to withstand some late home pressure, but the match ended 1-1, Honvéd slipping to sixth in the table and Debrecen remaining eighth.

Zalaegerszeg 2-0 Kaposvár
Goalscorers: Ikoba (1), Lesjak (38)

Zalaegerszeg: Demjén – Bolla, Bobál D., Lesjak, Bedi – Stieber (Babati, 86’), Mitrović (Kiss M., 88’), Kocsis G., Radó (Grumić, 82’) – Ikoba, Bobál G. Kaposvár: Pogacsics – Nagy J., Fodor, Nagy T. (Hegedűs, 46’), Hadaró – Jakimiv, Szakály A., Nagy R. (Zsiga,73’), Csiki (Balázs, 57’) – Beliczky, Ádám

Zalaegerszeg came out on top of the meeting between the two most recently-promoted sides, two first-half goals proving enough to see off the challenge of struggling Kaposvár as Barna Dobos’s side drew level with Paks on fourteen points.

Eduvie Ikoba opened the scoring after 38 seconds and when Croatian defender Zoran Lesjak got the second from a Zoltán Stieber corner seven minutes before the break, Zalaegerszeg were fully in command. A somewhat scrappy second half saw the home side content to protect their lead and Kaposvár unable to get themselves back into the match, the Somogy County men remaining stranded at the foot of the table on six points, eight from safety.