In Round 14 of the Merkantil Bank Liga we visited Kisvárda, who had won five consecutive home matches. Ádám Somogyi, who celebrated his 17th birthday last week, was handed his first start, while Sebestyén Ihrig-Farkas started for Honvéd for the first time since his return.
The teams did not tear into each other at the start, but in the opening half-hour we came closer to taking the lead on several occasions. In the 11th minute Medgyes's shot was blocked by the Kisvárda defence; Ihrig-Farkas tried to pounce on the loose ball, but goalkeeper Popovich beat him to it. At the end of the 17th minute Ihrig-Farkas could have provided the assist this time: home defender Imre Széles got a touch on his cross from the left and almost scored an own goal, with the ball looping over the bar off the defender's foot. A minute and a half later Zsombor Bévárdi cut inside from the right and curled a left-footed effort towards the far corner, but his shot went narrowly wide of the right post. In the final 15 minutes of the half Tujvel had to make two saves. First our experienced goalkeeper held Mesanovic's low shot, then tipped Gábor Molnár's 19-metre free kick out from under the bar. We went into the second half in Kisvárda with the score still 0-0.
We took the lead early in the second half: in the 50th minute Medgyes beat Széles one-on-one, then played Hangya in down the left. His low cross found Ihrig-Farkas, who fired into the net from a few metres out (0-1). In the 62nd minute Medgyes again appeared inside the Kisvárda penalty area and tried a right-footed shot, but the goalkeeper held his effort. Kisvárda could not create any major chances, while in the 80th minute we could have put the game to bed: Bévárdi unleashed a thunderous strike from 25 metres that crashed against the right post. Although we defended in an organised fashion throughout and did not allow Kisvárda any big opportunities, the Szabolcs side found an equaliser in stoppage time: Cipetic lifted the ball into the middle from the edge of the penalty area onto the head of Gyurkó, who nodded it into the bottom right corner from six metres to level the score (1-1).
We still had a match point for the win: Bévárdi again broke forward down the right and, after a fine move between two defenders, fed Farkas. He sent Camaj the wrong way and found himself facing goal, but his right-footed shot rebounded out off the post, so the score remained 1-1.
Our team therefore returns home from Kisvárda with one point and will close the autumn Merkantil Bank Liga season against Vasas at the Bozsik Aréna from 17:00 on Saturday.
Merkantil Bank Liga 2024/25, Round 14
KISVÁRDA MASTER GOOD–BUDAPEST HONVÉD FC 1–1 (0–0)
Kisvárda, Várkerti Stadion
Goals: Gyurkó (90+2.), and Ihrig-Farkas (50.)
Referee: Attila Molnár (Gergely Becséri, Szabin Topálszki)
Kisvárda: Popovich – Jovicic, Széles, Chlumecky (Lippai T., 67.) – Szőr – Cipetic, Matanovics (Gyurkó, 67.), Bíró B. (Camaj, 67.), Soltész D. – Mesanovic (Spasic, 79.), Molnár G. Acting head coach: Attila Révész
Honvéd: Tujvel – Bévárdi, Pauljevic, Ene, Benczenleitner, Hangya – Keresztes N. (Kulbachuk, 87.), Kesztyűs B. (Sigér Á., 74.), Somogyi Á. – Ihrig-Farkas (Farkas B., 87.), Medgyes Z. (Pekár I., 90+2.). Head coach: Zsolt Laczkó
