A hatrick from Ivan Petryak did the damage against ZTE on Saturday evening.
Match 22 of the OTP league season saw ZTE FC visit the MOL Arena Sosto. This was the first of four games between the two sides in the coming weeks. Vidi will play two Hungarian Cup matches against them in March. Then the final game of the season will be an away fixture at Zalaegerszeg in May. Manager Joan Carrillo had to do without several players who were out due to injury or suspension. Nemanja Nikolic celebrated his 200th NB I match against FTC a week ago. He was given a shirt with that number on it by Director of Football Zoltan Kovacs before the game.
The match started well for the home side who went ahead after 5 minutes. A corner from Houri was headed home by Stopira, who connected with the ball ahead of Demjen (1-0). ZTE could have levelled straight after that goal. Bole sent a shot at Kovacsik, who did well to save. Demjen then produced an equally good save at the other end after denying Patkai's shot from 18 meters. Funsho was fouled two minutes later inside the box, but the referee waved play on.
Petryak won a free kick after 20 minutes and around 24 meters from the ZTE goal. Houri stood behind the ball and nicely hit a curling shot, which Demjen in the visiting goal saved. Stieber at the other end shot from distance, but it did not cause any problem for Kovacsik. Vidi went close to scoring a second goal minutes later. Petryak's shot hit the left post and Nikolic just failed to connect with the rebound. The first half ended with Rado clipping the post from 15 meters, which ended up going out of play.
The second half started brightly. Petryak had a chance after 48 minutes, which ended with Szepe fouling the Ukrainian player, who ended up on the floor inside the box. The referee pointed at the spot and also showed the ZTE player the red card. Nikolic stood behind the ball and took the penalty but Demjen managed to get down and save it. The ball did not go too far from the visiting goal. Nikolic flicked the ball to Petryak who shot through the legs of Demjen and into the bottom corner (2-0).
The visitors lost possession on 57 minutes and Houri released Petryak with a lovely ball. His left footed shot made the score 3-0. There was no stopping Vidi who continued to push forward in search of more goals. They were pushing ZTE back all the time and there wasn't too long to wait until a further goal. Kovacs went down the right and crossed into the middle for Petryak to connect and calmly send the ball into the back of the net (4-0). It was also an impressive 3 goals for Petryak inside just 13 minutes!
Kovacsik saved well from a Bole shot after 65 minutes as the action continued. Demjen also collected an effort from Petryak 10 minutes later. Nikolic then shot over a minute later from 14 meters. Patrik Nyari came on after 77 minutes and curled his free kick just over the bar after Levente Szabo had been fouled. Levente Szabo was yet another youngster to come on for Vidi and he looked lively in the minutes that he played. The visitors were awarded a penalty on 84 minutes. Stopira had brought down Rado and the same player picked himself up to score (4-1).
Nikolov saw his shot in injury time saved by Demjen. There were no further goals and Vidi recorded a 4-1 win. They are next in action on the 29th February against Kaposvar at the MOL Arena Sosto.
Author: David Rechnitzer