In the 8th round of OTP Bank Liga, DVSC hosted Vasas at Nagyerdei Stadium on Saturday evening. The suspended players were available again, as were several other playes, who had previously been struggling with injuries. Among the starting XI were a few homegrown players, including Gergő Tercza, Dávid Patai and Imre Egri.

The match began with a minute of silence. János Képíró, who passed away at the age of 68 after a long illness borne with dignity, was the head of the club’s security service and an indispensable behind-the-scenes figure for more than two decades from 1998 onwards. During this time, he worked with great dedication to ensure that DVSC matches always took place smoothly. DVSC shares the grief of his family and will preserve the memory of János Képíró.

At the very start of the match, Loki immediately showed what modern football is all about: at the end of the 4th minute, Dávid Patai was involved in winning the ball back, after which Vilmos Dénes broke into the penalty area and delivered a cross from the left. In the middle, Ákos Szendrei arrived perfectly, as he often does, and smashed the ball under the bar (1–0).

The second goal for Debrecen came in the 10th minute. After a pass from Dávid Patai and a header from Imre Egri, Bence Batik found himself unmarked inside the penalty area. He made no mistake, striking the ball first time with confidence and sending it into the net (2–0).

Vasas registered their first shot of the match in the 15th minute, when Kovácsréti struck the crossbar from 19 metres. It was an entertaining game, with little chance for anyone to get bored. In the 18th minute, Imre Egri’s curling effort was brilliantly saved by Márk Engedi, who came through the DVSC academy, before Kovácsréti unleashed another powerful shot and came very close once again.

Vasas tried to dominate possession, but Loki proved far more effective. In the 34th minute, Balázs Dzsudzsák narrowly missed with a long-range effort, after which Ádám Lang produced a sensational block to deny a clear-cut chance. However, DVSC could not go into the break with a two-goal lead, as the visitors pulled one back in the 45th minute when Koszta scored from a free kick from 18 meters out (2–1).

At the beginning of the second half, DVSC was dominating. In the 46th minute, the goalkeeper of Vasas saved Imre Egri’s shot, before denying Ákos Szendrei’s backheel attempt. The duels became more and more intense, with both teams having dangerous attempts. In the 59th minute, Balázs Dzsudzsák scored a beautiful goal, but it was ruled out as the officials deemed that the ball had gone out of play during the attacking move. Vasas then equalised in the 61st minute, with Pávkovics making the most of a clear-cut chance and firing into the left corner from eight meters (2–2).

Sohan Baldoni and Bryan Adinany came on, and Loki pushed forward in search of the winning goal. The visitors also had their chances, of course, which resulted in a highly exciting game. At the start of the closing stages, Adrian Guerrero produced a crucial block as the last defender to stop a Vasas shot. Meanwhile, several refereeing decisions continued to stir up controversy. In the 81st minute, it seemed that Loki had retaken the lead: following a pass from Dénes, Bryan Adinany scored his first goal for Debrecen, firing home from eight metres. However, after a lengthy VAR review, the goal was also ruled out for offside. To make matters worse, Vasas scored a third goal in the first minute of stoppage time through substitute Pethő (later, following a home attack, the ball appeared to have crossed the goal line…) The visitors then scored again right at the end, with Tóth lobbing the ball into the net (2–4). The match therefore ended in defeat, despite DVSC deserving considerably more based on their performance.

The league resumes after the international break, with a trip to Ferencváros in October.

According to the coach

Gert Remmel: It was a strange match. Our players worked a lot, attacked well, scored a third, fourth and even fifth goal, but we still lost the match. If we have to talk the most about the refereeing decisions after the game, then it is a really strange match, for sure.

Gábor Erős: I am really happy for the victory. Our team showed great character as we could turn the game our way. We also needed luck for this success as DVSC plays good football.

OTP Bank Liga, round 8.

DVSC-Vasas 2-4 (2-1).

Nagyerdei Stadium, 6694 spectators. Referee: Derdák M.

DVSC: Andrejev – Tercza, Batik, Lang, Guerrero (Keller, 92.) – Patai, Boskovic – Egri (Baldoni, 62.), Dzsudzsák, Dénes V. – Szendrei Á. (Adinany, 62). Head coach: Gert Remmel.

Vasas: Engedi – Pávkovics, Iyinbor, Csóka, Hej – Mezei (Rab, 56.), Hidi M. – Kovácsréti (Horváth R., 86.), Urblík (Otigba, 93.), Tóth M. – Koszta (Pethő, 86.). Head coach: Erős Gábor.

Goal: Szendrei Á. (4.), Batik (10.) as well as Koszta (45.), Pávkovics (61.), Pethő (91.), Tóth M. (96.).

Yellow card: Batik (57.), Dzsudzsák (59.), Lang (73.), Dénes V. (94.), Tercza (95.) as wel as Csóka (21.), Hidi M. (45+2.), Kovácsréti (70.), Pávkovics (80.), Tóth M. (96.).