OTP Bank Liga: Zalaegerszeg hit six to ease their relegation worries

Zalaegerszeg were the big winners this weekend as they routed hapless hosts Kaposvár. András Radó gave the visitors a sixth-minute lead and they never looked back thereafter, the away team leading by five at half-time and adding another goal in the second half to set the final score at 6-0.

Paks started their match against second-placed Fehérvár the better, the visitors relying on counter-attacks to threaten their hosts, but both defences were equal to the task and despite a slightly more open game in the second half, neither side could find a winner. Diósgyőr's Iszlai celebrated his 30th birthday last Friday with a late free-kick winner against high-flying Mezőkövesd, Attila Kuttor's visitors perhaps a little distracted by their Hungarian Cup final participation on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Mezőkövesd's opponents in Hungarian football's showpiece event, Budapest Honvéd, continued their good form by defeating Debrecen 3-1, that despite seeing their opening goalscorer Djordje Kamber dismissed in the second half. By that point,  Roland Ugrai's penalty had already doubled Honvéd's lead but Adeniji pulled a goal back for 'Loki' and the game was only settled once and for all when Szendrei netted Honvéd's third in the 89th minute.

Elsewhere, Újpest's poor run continued as Kisvárda took control of an initially cautious match and forced visiting goalkeeper Dávid Banai into several good saves. The Budapest nearly took a surprise lead before half-time though, Soma Novothny forcing a save from Dombó and Rácz only hitting the woodwork with the rebound. The away team's prospects were damaged though when half-time substitute Calcan was dismissed just ten minutes into the second-half and Kisvárda took full advantage, Bumba scoring in the 63rd minute to secure all three points.

In the final match of the weekend on Sunday evening, Puskás Akadémia dominated the opening exchanges against league leaders Ferencváros but didn't take several presentable early chances. Instead, Tokmac Nguen scored a final individual goal in the 17th minute, only for Gergő Lovrencsics' own goal to level the scores 14 minutes later. The team from Felcsút created further chances in the secondperiod but Joel van Nieff's red card hampered their progress and eventually they had to settle for an encouraging home draw.

Ferencváros now lead MOL Fehérvar by nine (60 to 51) with eight rounds left of the OTP Bank Liga season. At the bottom, Kaposvár have been cast well adrift of those above them but the fight to avoid the remaining relegation spot is heating up, Paks currently in that unwanted position but only on goal difference from Újpest in tenth, a point behind Debrecen on 30 and two behind Zalaegerszeg on 31 points.

OTP Bank Liga, Round 26:

Paksi FC 0-0 MOL Fehérvár FC
Paksi FC: Rácz G. - Osváth (Poór, 89.), Szélpál, Kelemen, Szabó J. - Szakály D. (Bartha, 69.), Windecker (Kecskés, 69.), Balogh B. - Könyves (Hahn, 60.), Böde, Haraszti (Kulcsár, 69.)
MOL Fehérvár FC: Kovácsik - Fiola (Rus, 22.), Juhász, Vinícius, Stopira - Pátkai, Houri (Nikolics, 66.) - Nego, Kovács I., Petrjak (Nikolov, 79.) - Hodzic (Szabó L., 79.)

Diósgyőri VTK 1-0 Mezőkövesd Zsóry FC (HT: 0-0)
Goalscorer: Iszlai (83. pen)
Red card: Karnyickij (88.)
DVTK: Danilovic - Sesztakov, Polgár, Szűcs, Vági - Márkvárt, Iszlai - Haszani (Egerszegi, 87.), Rui Pedro (Molnár, 72.), Kiss T. (Korbély, 93.) - Ivanovszki (Tabakovic, 72.)
Mezőkövesd: Szappanos - Farkas D., Szeles (Karnyickij, 46.), Pillár, Vadnai - Pekár (Cseri, 46.), Meszhi, Berecz, Vajda (Takács T., 84.) - Jurina (Zivzivadze, 46.), Nagy D. (Besirovic, 57.)

Kisvárda Master Good 1-0 Újpest FC (0-0)
Goalscorer: Bumba (63.)
Red card: Calcan (56.)
Kisvárda Master Good: Dombó - Protic, Rubus, Cukalasz (Tischler, 62.), Lucas - Ene, Melnyik - Karaszjuk, Bumba (Obradovic, 96.), Viana (Simovic, 82.) - Gosztonyi (Sassa, 62.)
Újpest FC: Banai - Pauljevic, Ristevski, Heris, Balázs B. - Sedlacek (Perosevic, 84.), Onovo - Simon K. (Bacsa, 80.), Rácz B. (Calcan, 46.), Nwobodo - Novothny

Kaposvári Rákóczi FC 0-6 ZTE FC (0-5)
Goalscorers: Radó (6., 35.), Bőle (21., 31.), Barczi (28.), Lesjak (52.)
Kaposvár: Pogacsics - Vachtler, Ur, Fodor (Nagy T., 46.), Hadaró - Nagy J., (Bévárdi, 24.), Trebotic (Farkas, 83.) - Szakály A., Pintér, Nagy R. (Borbély, 73.) - Ádám (Keresztes, 73.)
ZTE: Demjén - Bolla, Szépe, Katanec (Bobál D., 57.), Tamás K. - Lesjak, Mitrovic (Ostrek, 67.) - Radó, Barczi (Babati, 43.), Bőle (Kocsis, 56.) - Bobál G. (Ikoba, 67.)

Budapest Honvéd FC 3-1 Debreceni VSC (1-0)
Goalscorers: HON: Kamber (15.), Ugrai (51. pen), Szendrei (89.), DEB: Adeniji (69.)
Red card: Kamber (65.)
Budapest Honvéd: Tujvel (Levkovich, 71.) - Batik (Niba, 46.), Kamber, Lovric, Ikenne-King (Mezghrani, 58.) - Gazdag (Nagy G., 79.), Szendrei, Hidi, Kesztyűs, Kukoc (Aliji, 46.) - Ugrai
Debrecen: Nagy S. - Kusnyír, Kinyik, Pávkovics, Ferenczi - Tőzsér - Bódi, Haris (Szabó B., 71.), Varga K. (Kundrák, 56.) - Szécsi (Adeniji, 56.), Trujics (Garba, 56.)

Puskás Akadémia FC 1-1 Ferencvárosi TC (1-1)
Goalscorers: PUS: Lovrencsics (31. own goal), FTC: Nguen (17.)
Red card: van Nieff (69.)
PAFC: Tóth B. - Szolnoki, Spandler, Meissner, Nagy Zs. - van Nieff, Plsek - Slagveer (Tamás N. 67.), Knezevic, Gyurcsó (Favorov 76.) - Mebrahtu (Sós 86.)
FTC: Dibusz - Lovrencsics G. (Botka 74.), Blazic, Otigba, Heister - Haratin, Sigér (Leandro 74.) - Somalia (Skvarka 86.), Isael, Nguen - Boli (Signevich 86.)