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We went into our final home match, against already-crowned champions Kisvárda, with a heavily reshuffled side. For one thing, Tamás Feczkó and his assistant coach István Paulik were both suspended and could not take their places on the bench, so his other assistant, István Márton, took over the reins for Sunday evening.
For another, the coaching staff could not call on Zoltán Medgyes, Ádám Szamosi, Bonifác Csonka and Zsombor Bévárdi because of suspension, while Dominik Csontos, Barna Kesztyűs, Ákos Baki and Sebestyén Ihrig-Farkas were injured. Before the match we congratulated the Honvéd BKE players, who had already secured the Old Boys championship with one round to spare, as well as Pisont Istvánt, who had celebrated his 55th birthday two days earlier, before our team formed a guard of honour for the side from Szabolcs.
The first half ended without any major clear-cut chances. The visitors created the only more dangerous situation when, in the 31st minute, Dominik Soltész struck an undoubtedly well-hit free kick that was heading under the crossbar, but our goalkeeper, Megyeri Gábor, making his debut for Kispest's senior team, had other ideas and produced a superb save.
At half-time, in front of a large crowd, the supporters unveiled a memorial plaque for our eternal capo, Bordás Gergő ’Bordi’, which was placed at the North Curve.
Then came the second half. Soon after the restart we created a big chance in front of the visitors' goal: Pinte battled for the ball, then Pintér, also making his first senior appearance, sent it into the middle, but both Simon and Keresztes failed to connect. Moments later, Keresztes headed Földi's cross wide.
In the 53rd minute the Várda defence switched off after a throw-in, Benedek Simon slipped between the defenders but could not bring the ball fully under control and still missed by only centimetres. In the 57th minute, after a free kick from the flank, Simon again found himself facing the goalkeeper, but once more was not in a position to direct the ball on target and it flew over.
In the 72nd minute, substitute Ákos Szabó's cross was chested down by Simon, who then fired over from 16 metres. The pressure finally produced a goal in the 74th minute. Although it looked as if the visiting defenders would clear Pinte's cross, the ball fell to Branko Pauljevics, who announced himself with a tremendous strike from roughly 30 metres into the left side of the net (1-0). Barely five minutes later, Keresztes's free kick was flicked into his own net by Bernardo Matic (2-0). Our academy graduate Hetyei Szilveszter, who had only been introduced a few minutes earlier, put the icing on the cake in the 93rd minute (3-0). Kevin Kántor was the most recent player before him to score on his senior-team debut.
Next Sunday at 17:00 we will close the 2024–25 season against Vasas.
MERKANTIL BANK LIGA, ROUND 29
BUDAPEST HONVÉD FC–Kisvárda Master Good 3–0 (0–0)
Bozsik Arena, 2,885 spectators. Referee: Derdák Marcell (Rózsa Dávid, Punyi Gyula).
BUDAPEST HONVÉD: Megyeri – Pauljevics, Szabó A., Hangya (Sigér – at half-time.) – Földi (Szabó Á., 58.), Keresztes (Petrók, 87.), Pekár, Somogyi, Pintér M. – Simon (Hetyei, 75.), Pinte (Kántor, 75.). Acting head coach: Márton István
Kisvárda: Popovics – Cipetic, Matic, Széles (Jovicic, 77.) – Bíró B. (Pap, 63.), Soltész I. (Szőr, 69.), Popoola (Osztrovka, 69.), Soltész D. – Matanovic – Mesanovic, Gyurkó (Molnár G., 63.). Head coach: Révész Attila
G: Pauljevics (74.), Matic (79 – own goal), Hetyei (93.).
Márton István: First of all, I would like to congratulate Kisvárda on winning the championship. We really wanted to say goodbye to our home supporters with a good result. The league is not over yet; we still have one match left against Vasas, which is of special importance not only to us but also to our supporters.
Révész Attila: Full credit to the home side: they played with determination, aggression and great intensity. Today we were a comfortable opponent; I expected greater motivation. This match clearly showed that there are significant deficiencies in ability among some players.
