Szarvas savours first win as Hungary Women defeat Switzerland

This was Hungary Women's fourth match of the current European qualifying campaign, the third having been a narrow recent loss away against group leaders Switzerland., so there was plenty of reason for positivity ahead of this home fixture againt the same most recent opponents.

This was further exacerbated by an encouraging first half, in which the Swiss couldn't get a grip of Henrietta Csiszár's spirited and disciplined performance in midfield, and, in addition to defending brilliantly, Hungary were more threatening in attack than the opponent. Viktória Szabó was injured and replaced by Zsanett Kaján just after the half-hour mark but Hungary's level of quality didn't waver and although no goals were scored by either side in a competitive first half, Szarvas's charges were closer to taking the lead.

The opening period of the second half featured chances for both sides, Anna Csiki going especially close for Hungary in the 52nd minute, only for her shot to be saved by Switzerland's goalkeeper. Opportunities kept coming and finally Hungary took one of them in the 73rd minute, Emőke Pápai, who had come on as a substitute just a few minutes earlier, firing a shot into the bottom-right corner of the net from 18 metres.

The visitors did everything they could to equalise but didn't really anything of note in the regular 90 minutes. In added time, however, Switzerland were awarded a penalty for a handball inside the area, which was taken by Ramona Bachmann who had scored from the spot in game between the two teams last week. She wasn't as successful this time though, her shot cannoning off the left post and away to safety. The final whistle was blown soon after, Hungary's delight palpable through their celebrations.

Hungary have two group games left, both in July when they'll play away in Azerbaijan then host Turkey.

"I'm very proud of the team; the girls have put in a lot of work in the last week-and-a-half, and today's victory was the result of this," head coach Alexandra Szarvas explained after the match. "The girls believed we could win the match, they trusted themselves all the way and in the end we managed to convert one of our chances. This is just the beginning; I feel we're on the right track, so we must carry today's mentality into the remaining matches as well."

Hungary 1-0 Switzerland (HT: 0-0)

Hungary: Réka Szőcs - Cintia Öreg, Luca Papp, Hanna Németh, Diána Németh (Virág Nagy, 89) - Fanni Nagy, Henrietta Csiszár - Dóra Zeller (Emőke  Pápai, 67), Evelin Fenyvesi, Viktória Szabó (Zsanett Kaján, 31) - Anna Csiki

Goalscorer: Pápai (73)