OTP Bank Liga: ZTE secure safety as relegation battle hots up

Although Diósgyőr and Honvéd can still theoretically be relegated, there are four teams in much more serious relegation trouble - Kisvárda, Újpest, Paks and Debrecen. Of those four, two posted important victories this weekend, Kisvárda having goals from Stavros Tsoukalas and Márk Kovácsréti to thank for a 2-1 success over already-relegated Kaposvár, while Debrecen hammered Diósgyőr 4-0 to boost their confidence at just the right time with two rounds left. Újpest, meanwhile, suffered their third successive 1-0 derby defeat to newly-crowned champions Ferencváros, Franck Boli with the goal yet again, the Ivorian having scored the winning goal in both matches earlier this season too.

Paks look in a bit more trouble now after losing 3-1 to Puskás Akadémia, Gábor Osztermájer's team now lying on 37 points - the same as Újpest and only two points above a resurgent Debrecen, who still occupy the second relegation place. Kisvárda have 38 points, three behind Honvéd and Diósgyőr. The only match to feature two of the teams in the top half of the table at the start of the round went the way of Mezőkövesd, who stay in the third European qualification spot ahead of Puskás Akadémia on goal difference after coming from behind to beat OTP Bank Liga runners-up MOL Fehérvár 2-1, an added-time winner by Meszki securing the three points. 


OTP Bank Liga, 31st round: 

ZTE FC 2–0 Budapest Honvéd (HT: 0–0)
Zalaegerszeg, ref.: Pintér
Goal: Batik (own goal, 51.), Babati (92.)
Yellow cards: ZTE: Bőle (72.), Bolla (80.), HON: Mezghrani (40.), Niba (70.), Gazdag (77.)

ZTE: Demjén – Bolla, Szépe, Bobál D., Tamás – Bedi, Mitrovic (Kocsis, 87.) – Bőle, Barczi (Katelaris, 66.), Radó – Bobál G. (Babati, 87.)
Budapest Honvéd: Lefkovits – Uzoma (Kesztyűs, 89.), Niba, Batik, Mezghrani – Szendrei (László, 90.), Irmiás (Nagy G., 46.), Hidi, Gazdag – Ugrai (Kamber, 71.), Cipf (Moutari, 46.)

Mezőkövesd Zsóry FC 2–1 MOL Fehérvár FC (1–1)
Mezőkövesd, ref.: Karakó
Goalscorers: MEZ: Besirovic (35.), Meszki (93.), FEH: Futács (29.)
Yellow cards: Nesterov (17., 41.), Berecz (91.), FEH: Kovács (71.)
Red card: Nesterov (41.)

Mezőkövesd: Szappanos – Farkas, Nesterov, Pillár, Silye – Karnitsky, Berecz – Pekár (Eperjesi, 79.), Vajda (Vadnai, 83.), Besirovic (Meszki, 83.) – Zivzivadze
Fehérvár: Kovácsik – Tamás, Rus, Musliu, Stopira – Nikolov (Nikolic, 82.), Elek – Bamgboye (Petrjak, 68.), Hodzic (Houri, 69.), Kovács – Futács

Puskás Akadémia FC 3–1 Paksi FC (2–0)
Felcsút, Pancho Aréna, ref.: Berke
Goalscorers: PUS: Vanecek (4., 89.), Knezevic (43.), PAKS: Sajbán (55.)
Yellow cards: PUS: Urblík (52.), Sós (79.), Knezevic (81.), PAKS: Haraszti (28.), Hahn (83.)

Puskás Akadémia FC: Tóth B. – Nagy Zs., Meissner, Hadzsiev, Deutsch – Urblík (Plsek, 63.), Van Nieff, Slagveer (Mebrahtu, 63.), Knezevic (Spandler, 82.), Gyurcsó (Sós, 77.) – Vanecek
Paksi FC: Rácz G. – Osváth, Lenzsér (Poór, 78.), Kelemen (Gévay, 86.), Szabó J. – Kecskés (Szakály D., 62.), Windecker (Bartha, 78.), Balogh B. – Hahn, Sajbán M., Haraszti (Kulcsár D., 72.)

Ferencvárosi TC 1–0 Újpest FC (0–0)
Groupama Aréna, ref.: Bogár
Goalscorers: Boli (53.)
Yellow cards: FTC: Kharatin (10.), Blazic (28.), Isael (47.), ÚJP: Novothny (16.), Zsótér (68.), Katona (90.), Ristevski (90.)

Ferencváros: Dibusz – Lovrencsics (Frimpong, 25.), Blazic, Botka, Civic – Kharatin, Sigér (Vécsei, 61.) – Zubkov, Isael (Skvarka, 61.), Nguen (Csonka, 82.) – Boli (Signevich, 82.)
Újpest: Banai – Pauljevic (Balázs B., 46.), Heris, Ristevski, Burekovic – Szakály P. (Onovo, 61.), Nwobodo – Simon (Bacsa, 61.), Zsótér (Katona, 83.), Perosevic (Koszta, 61.) – Novothny

Kaposvári Rákóczi FC 1–2 Kisvárda Master Good (1–2)
Kaposvár, ref.: Farkas Á.
Goalscorers: Bévárdi (35.), KIS: Tsoukalas (21.), Kovácsréti (45.)
Yellow cards: KAP: Ádám (20.), KIS: Simovic (42.), Hei (61.)

Kaposvár: Pogacsics – Nagy J. (Nagy T., 72.), Ur, Szabó J., Hadaró – Szakály A., Trebotic (Vachtler, 57.) – Nagy R., Palic (Balázs, 52.), Bévárdi (Csiki, 72.) – Ádám
Kisvárda: Dombó – Hei, Ene, Rubus, Protic – Lucas, Karasyuk (Simovic, 24.) – Melnik (Sassá, 30.), Tsoukalas, Kovácsréti – Obradovic (Tischler, 86.)

Debreceni VSC 4–0 Diósgyőri VTK (3–0)
Debrecen, ref.: Bognár
Goalscorers: DEB: Szécsi (8., 13.), Szatmári (44.), Tőzsér (71. pen.)
Yellow cards: DEB: Szatmári (61.), Kundrák (66.), Barna (90.), DIÓ: Kiss T. (65.)

Debrecen: Kosicky – Kinyik, Szatmári, Pávkovics, Ferenczi – Kusnyír (Szabó B., 87.), Kundrák (Bényei, 75.) – Varga K. (Barna, 86.), Tőzsér, Szécsi (Bereczki, 75.) – Adeniji (Trujic, 64.)
Diósgyőr: Danilovic – Shestakov, Polgár, Brkovic, Memolla (Vági, 46.) – Markvárt (Egerszegi, 46.), Iszlai – Hasani (Makrai, 75.), Rui Pedro (Molnár G., 55.), Kiss T. – Tabakovic (Ivanovski, 56.)