OTP Bank Liga: Wins for top three as Haladás revival continues

League leaders Ferencváros won 1-0 on the road at Kisvárda and 2nd-placed Vidi came from behind to take all three points against Debrecen, whilst an own-goal and a penalty did for Paks at home to 3rd-place Újpest. At the bottom of the table, Haladás’ revival continues with a 3-0 victory over Puskás Akadémia.

Kisvárda 0–1 Ferencváros (HT: 0–0)
Goalscorer: Signevich (47’)
Kisvárda: Felipe – Lukjanchuk, Kravcsenko, Beriosz, Protics – Karaszjuk (Horváth Z., 84’), Gosztonyi (Melnyik, 66’), Cukalasz, Lucas, Seco (Sassá, 73’) – Ilic
Ferencváros: Dibusz – Lovrencsics G., Blažić (Frimpong, 33’), Dvali, Heister – Haratin, Sigér (Tokmac, 75’) – Isael, Gorriarán, Petrjak – Signevich (Lanzafame, 64’)

Mikalay Signevich scored the only goal of the game to give Ferencváros all three points away to a stubborn Kisvárda side. Meeting a Gergő Lovrencsics cross from the right, the big Belarussian centre-forward fired into the roof of the net from close-range just two minutes into the second half. Kisvárda played the last 30 minutes of the match with ten men following the red carding of defender Pavlo Lukyanchuk.

Vidi 2–1 Debrecen (0–0)
Goalscorers: VID: Šćepović (77’), Pátkai (84’); DEB: Tőzsér (54’)
MOL Vidi FC: Kovácsik – Nego, Juhász R., Vinícius, Stopira – Kovács I. (Huszti 66’), Pátkai, Elek (Hadžić 72’), Milanov (Hodžić 66’) – Futács, Šćepović
Debrecen: Nagy S. – Bényei, Kinyik, Pávkovics, Ferenczi – Jovanović (Csősz 81’), Haris (Takács T. 86’), Tőzsér, Bódi – Varga K. (Zsóri 83’), Szécsi

Vidi fell behind to a long-range Dániel Tőzsér free kick after 54 minutes of their home match against Debrecen but turned the match around with two goals in the last thirteen minutes to stay 8 points behind Fradi. First, after 77 minutes, a Marko Šćepović effort was deflected past Oleksandr And in the Debrecen goal, and then with only six minutes remaining Máté Pátkai – scorer of Hungary’s winner against World Cup runners-up Croatia last weekend – was on hand to tuck home the rebound after Armin Hodžić’s shot had come back off the post.

Paks 0–2 Újpest (0–0)
Goalscorers: Bobál D. (60’, own goal), Traoré (68’ – penalty)
Paks: Nagy G. – Kulcsár (Kővári, 25’), Lenzsér, Bobál D., Báló – Zsidai (Kesztyűs, 79’), Windecker – Hahn, Papp, Remili (Simon A., 69’) – Könyves
Újpest: Pajovic – Pauljevic, Litauszki, Ristevski, Burekovic – Sankovic, Diallo – Nwobodo, Rácz, Nagy D. (Simon K., 71’) – Traoré (Zsótér, 88’)

Újpest cemented third place courtesy of a 2-0 victory at Paks. There was little in the way of goalmouth action in a cagey affair, albeit Újpest did enjoy the lion’s share of possession and attacking play. Újpest took the lead in the 60th minute, Dávid Bobál turning the ball into his own net, and eight minutes later it was two, Lacina Traoré scoring from the spot to give the Lilák a three-point lead ahead of fourth-place Debrecen.

Mezőkövesd 3–1 Honvéd (0–0)
Goalscorers: MEZ: Moutari (71’), Vajda (84’), Drazic (90+2); HON: Holender (69’)
Mezőkövesd: Szappanos – Eperjesi, Pillar, Katanec, Vadnai – Molnár (Iszlai, 79’), Szeles, Bertus (Vajda, 73’), Cseri – Koszta (Moutari, 69’), Drazic
Honvéd: Gróf – Batik, Kamber, Lovric – Mezghrani, Gazdag (Tischler, 88’), Nagy, Ben-Hatira, Uzoma (Kukoc, 88’) –Holender, N’Gog (Danilo, 63’)

Honvéd lie fifth, a further point behind the Hajdú Bihar County side, having fallen to a 3-1 defeat away to Mezőkövesd despite taking the lead through league top-scorer Filip Holender in the 69th minute.

MTK 2–1 Diósgyőr (2–1)
Goalscorers: MTK: Gera (22’, 27’); DIÓ: Tajti (43’)
MTK: Horváth L. – Katona, Balogh B., Pintér, Gengeliczki, Szelin – Vass Á. – Kanta (Vass P., 61’), Bognár I., Gera (Mihajlovic, 78’) – Torghelle (U. Diallo, 70’)
Diósgyőr: Antal – Sesztakov, Polgár (Bacsa, 74’), Brkovic, Tamás M., Juhar (Prosser, 46’) – Szabó B., Márkvárt, Tajti – Hasani, Mihajlovic (Vernes, 66’)

MTK got back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Diósgyőr, Dániel Gera scoring a brace in the space of minutes before a Mátyás Tajti strike just before half-time set up a tense second half. The visitors held the upper hand for the first twenty minutes of the second period but failed to make their domination count, MTK coming back into the match as it wore on an holding on for an all-important three points. The defeat sees Diósgyőr remain third-bottom, two points above Kisvárda and the relegation placings.

Haladás 3–0 Puskás Akadémia (2–0)
Goalscorers: Rabusic (31’), Rui Pedro (45+1’, 58’)
Haladás: Rózsa D. – Habovda, Jagodics, Tamás, Németh Mi. – Dausvili, Holodiuk (Németh Má., 80’) – Ivanov (Gaál, 76’), Rui Pedro, Ofosu – Rabusic (Priskin, 65’)
Puskás Akadémia: Hegedűs – Szolnoki, Poór, Hadzsijev, Sós (Tamás N., 38’) – Varga J., Mioc (Arabuli, 58’) – Knezevic (Urblik, 58’), Nagy Zs., Kiss T. – Radó

Haladás, bottom of the tale and seemingly all but dead and buried a few weeks ago, remain bottom but reduced the gap to safety to eight points as they made light work of the challenge from Puskás Akadémia who remain five points above Kisvárda. Czech forward Michael Rabušic set them on their way with a 31st minute opener, Rui Pedro scoring a second goal in first-half injury time to ease the nerves. Rui Pedro then missed a 56th minute penalty before scoring his second goal two minutes afterwards as the Szombathely side made sure of the three points. Next week sees two six-pointers at the foot of the table with Kisvárda travelling to Puskás Akadémia and Diósgyőr at home to Haladás.