Our team returned to NB I action after three years. Our opponents were Kisvárda, whom we'd already faced during pre-season, beating the red-and-whites 2–1 with goals from Szamosi and Pinte. Matches against teams coached by our former manager Attila Supka have traditionally been difficult for us, as we've only managed to win once against his current side.
In Maurizio Jacobacci's first league match in charge of Kispest, only Kevin Kántor, who has yet to recover fully from injury, was unavailable. New signings Deian Boldor and Adi Alic started, while our Italian-Swiss head coach named Pablo García and Osman Hadzikic among the substitutes. Three of our players under 20 – Ádám Szamosi and the Somogyi brothers – also earned places in the starting XI, all three making their NB I debuts. As we've come to expect, the away section was virtually packed with Kispest supporters, and fans and club legends supporting our side could also be seen in the home and VIP sections, including Kálmán Kovács and Lajos Szurgent.
The hosts posed the greater threat in the first half. Osztrovka fired from long range in the second minute, but caused us no major problems. We had to wait until the 30th minute for the next big chance, when Révész shot after a pass from Balogun. The ball flew between Baki's legs; although Tujvel was already on the ground, he was far from beaten and produced an incredible reflex save to turn away the goalbound effort. In the 42nd minute Ádám Somogyi shot wide from distance, and a minute later Csontos tried his luck from the edge of the box but blasted straight into Popovics's hands. We put together several dangerous attacks but were repeatedly inaccurate with the final pass. Mbock struck the crossbar to close out the half.
After the interval we were clearly on top. First Szamosi and then Hangya drove the ball across the face of goal; the former couldn't find a teammate, while Popovics came off his line well to deal with the latter. Eight minutes into the second half Matanovic dribbled through our left side before Herc arrived perfectly between our defenders and calmly finished under the bar (1–0). In the 60th minute Kállai received a superb ball from Ádám Somogyi and played in Zuigeber, whose shot went inches wide of the right post. In the 68th minute Somogyi chipped a pass to Alic, who turned and fired over the crossbar. We had several chances to equalise late on, including in the 82nd minute when substitute Gyurcsó drove the ball across goal but nobody was there to finish, and when he glanced Hangya's cross wide. The pressure on Kisvárda continued to grow, and in the 88th minute it finally paid off when, after Csontos's corner, Baki placed the ball unstoppably into the left side of the net (1–1), scoring our first goal of the 2026/27 NB I campaign. It was Kispest's first top-flight goal in 1,155 days.
Next Saturday we host MTK Budapest at the Bozsik Arena at 19:30 in round two of the OTP Bank Liga.
OTP BANK LIGA 2026/27, ROUND 1
Kisvárda Master Good–KISPEST–HONVÉD FC 1–1 (0–0)
Várkerti Stadium, 2,253 spectators. Referee: Mihály Káprály (István Albert, Dávid Rózsa).
HONVÉD: Tujvel – Kállai, Baki, Boldor (Pekár, 79), Hangya – Somogyi Á., Csontos – Zuigeber, Szamosi (Pinte, 92), Somogyi T. (Medgyes, at half-time) – Alic (Gyurcsó, 79). Head coach: Maurizio Jacobacci
Kisvárda: Popovics – Osztrovka (Szőr, 69), Radmanovac, Oláh B., Soltész – Mbock – Melnik – Bíró B. (Mesanovic, 76), Herc (Nagy K., 87), Balogun (Matanovic, at half-time) – Yordanov (Novothny, at half-time). Head coach: Attila Supka
Scorers: Herc (53); Baki (88).
Maurizio Jacobacci: I wouldn't say we're happy, but we are satisfied with the result. We put together some well-worked attacking moves and had chances to score, particularly in the second half, but the final touches let us down. Set pieces are clearly one of this team's strengths, and we showed that again today. I think we deserved at least one point.
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