“Robi Pandur! Robi Pandur!” – chanted the Kispest supporters before kick-off, as our club’s ever-young kit man Róbert Pandur, who has served Honvéd for decades, celebrated his 62nd birthday on the day of the match and visibly moved, waved to the fans in response to the festive gesture. Alongside the joy, remembrance was also part of the moments before the game: Olympic champion Imre Komora, a cup winner with Honvéd both as a player and as a coach, passed away on Wednesday. We remembered our legend with a minute’s silence, and then the second home match of the season, the league game against Ajka, got under way.
The first chance fell to us. In the 9th minute Attila Lőrinczy crossed into the middle, but Bence Nyitrai’s header missed the target. A minute later, however, the net was already rippling. Ákos Sigér, starting for the first time this season, curled the ball into the middle and Zalán Kerezsi headed it into the left side of the goal: 1–0 to us.
We stayed on the attack after the goal, with play taking place in Ajka’s half. In the 22nd minute goalkeeper Szabados produced a fine save from Barna Benczenleitner’s shot, while in the 23rd Dávid Holman’s through ball was just a fraction too long for Zalán Kerezsi, so the visiting goalkeeper collected again. In the 25th minute the roles were reversed: Kerezsi passed to Holman, who beat his man on the inside-right channel in the penalty area, but Szabados held his effort heading towards the bottom-left corner.
Ajka’s first chance, a dangerous header, came at the start of the 32nd minute, but we soon threatened again. Szabados got a hand to a dangerous cross and the ball fell to Alex Szabó, who shot left-footed from eight metres, but the post came to the visitors’ rescue. Half a minute later our captain was already busy in front of our own goal, blocking Nikolasz Kovács’s shot. Late in the half Attila Lőrinczy’s long-range effort first went wide of the bottom-left corner, but the final five minutes belonged to the visitors. Borsos equalised in the 41st minute, and Ajka had another dangerous header at the end of the half, but the score did not change before the break.
Apart from the final five-plus minutes, our team played better. We took an early lead, created chances and could have been several goals ahead, and although the score was only 1–0, the performance gave cause for optimism.
After the change of ends, however, Ajka resumed the match more actively. During this period the visitors increasingly imposed themselves and the green-and-whites created several opportunities. The score did not change, but it was clear that even greater effort would be needed to secure the three points.
Noel Keresztes came on midway through the half and tried to inject fresh impetus into our play. The defenders cleared his dangerous cross for a corner, then in the 73rd minute Zoltán Medgyes found himself in a great position, but goalkeeper Szabados was again equal to the task, as he was seven minutes later when the winger signed in the summer tried again and the keeper brilliantly tipped away his looping shot.
Unfortunately, there were chances at the other end as well, although they missed our goal. In the 85th minute, however, Ajka did score: Gergely Bobál played Levente Doncsecz through, and from the inside-right channel he fired into the bottom-right corner. During the remaining five plus four minutes we pushed forward in search of an equaliser, but in vain: we could not find our second goal, so Ajka took all three points from the Bozsik Aréna and we must keep working to be more successful in the matches ahead.
MERKANTIL BANK LIGA, 2024/2025, ROUND 4
BUDAPEST HONVÉD FC–FC AJKA 1–2 (1–1)
Bozsik Aréna, attendance: 2119
Referee: Zoltán J. Kovács (P. Ország, D. Dobos)
Goals: Kerezsi (10.), resp. Borsos (41.), Doncsecz (85.)
Honvéd: Gyetván – Pauljevic, Ene, Szabó A., Benczenleitner – Sigér, Nyitrai (Keresztes, 63.), Holman, Lőrinczy (Krajcsovics, 87.) – Kerezsi, Medgyes (Ihrig-Farkas, 81.)
Coaches: Djordje Kamber, István Paulik
Ajka: Szabados – Tóth G., Tar, Kenderes, Csemer – Kovács N. (Pantovic, 70.), Borsos (Doncsecz, 70.), Zsolnai (Jagodics, 90+1.), Kopácsi, Csizmadia (Sejben, 60.) – Szarka (Bobál G., 70.)
Head coach: Szabolcs Schindler
