Defeat away at Újpest

We are nearing the end of the first third of the NB I season. Our team were the guests of Újpest FC in the 10th round of the OTP Bank League at the Szusza Ferenc Stadium in Budapest. Imre Szabics went for the eleven of Kovács D. - Fiola, Rus, Musliu, Stopira - Funsho, Nego, Makarenko, Petryak - Zivzivadze, Kodro against the capital team, while the home team surprisingly left out Croizet and Tallo from their starting line-up, with Beridze and the new fourth district arrival Koné starting up front.

Already in the first minute we had the ball in front of Banai's goal, but Petryak's centre was well saved by the Újpest goalkeeper. In the fifth minute, Dániel Kovács was well placed as he gathered Antonov's free-kick. In the 10th minute Pauljevic made a brutal challenge on Nego, the referee gave him a red card in the 13th minute after a VAR review. Fortunately, our player was able to continue the game after some treatment.

We had the man advantage, but we didn't create too many chances until the middle of the half. In the 34th minute, Antonov stood behind a 30-metre free kick but couldn't find the net. A minute later, Vidi responded: Fiola went on a bit of a run, before finding Zivzivadze in the middle, but our Georgian striker shot over the bar. In the 44th minute Banai made a great save! Makarenko's left-wing cross found Funsho, our Nigerian winger hit the ball under the bar from 14 yards out, but their goalkeeper made a great save. A minute later, Zivzivadze missed the target, and shortly afterwards Sándor Andó-Szabó blew for half time.

The first minutes of the second half were quite chaotic, we saw big mistakes from players of both teams, and unfortunately in the 50th minute a short back pass was intercepted by Áron Csongvai who founf the net (1-0). After an hour of play, Zivzivadze was replaced by our captain Nemanja Nikolic, while Újpest tried to keep their one-goal lead with all their energy despite having a man-down. In the 68th minute, Stopira's header from a left-wing corner was heading at goal, but Újpest were able to clear from the goal-line.

Seventy minutes into the match, Imre Szabics made two changes, replacing Kodro and Fiola with Jallow and Dárdai. In the next period of the match the game remained the same, with Újpest defending heroically and Vidi dominating possession but failing to create any real chances. In the 83rd minute, Dárdai's free-kick was fisted straight to Makarenko by Banai, but the Ukrainian midfielder missed the target from 18 yards. The final minutes were mostly spent treating various home players, which led Andó-Szabó to add four minutes of injury time. In the end we failed to score and Újpest won with a goal from Csongvai.

Our next match will be on the 29th October, when we will host Paksi FC at the MOL Arena Sósto.