OTP Bank Liga 2023/2024

Fighting with one man down: DVSC-Újpest 1-2

The Loki-Újpest match started in an atmosphere worthy of a real rivalry game, our fans showed a lot of support. Still, a lot of injured players, such as Meldin Dreskovic, Alexander Mojzis, Joao Oliveira and Christian Manrique were out of the squad. However, Balázs Megyeri was back on track, while Ádám Bódi and Márk Szécsi, as a striker, were also in the starting eleven.

The match started with a minute of silence: the teams, the staff and supporters paid tribute to the memory of the mother of DVSC’s President, Ike Thierry Zaengel, who passed away recently.

At the beginning of the match, Ljujic got injured, we could see some quick attacks from Újpest and in the 13th minute, Loki was outnumbered as the referee sent off Dusan Lagator, who, in his opinion, made a fault as the last player in front of the goal. So, it was definitely not the best start but our team took the fight with 10 men as well.

Obviously, Újpest had more possession as they were in numerical superiority but they were not really able to shoot at our goal. On the other side of the pitch, Ádám Bódi curled the ball wide of the goal in the 31st minute, then Balázs Dzudzsák unleashed a shot that went over the goal. There were no bigger chances in the final minutes of the first half and no goals were scored until the break.

The game remained unchanged in the first part of the second half, the guest team tried to press us but we stood still. For example, in the 47th minute, Balázs Megyeri made a huge save to deny Ambrose’s header from close-range.

As time passed, the game became more intense, and during Ádám Bódi’s chance only the precision of the last pass was missing for a home goal. DVSC was strongly defending and in the meantime, Brandon Domingues, then Donát Bárány and Zsombor Bévárdi also came on as substitutes.

Then, Loki took the lead during the endgame! Hamzat Ojediran made a through pass to Erik Kusnyir, who broke into the box, then beautifully shot the ball into the goal next to Banai (1-0). After this, Balázs Megyeri saved Ambrose’s header once again, but in the 80th minute, Mörschel headed the ball into the bottom left corner after a corner-kick (1-1).

The last minutes of the game were full of excitement, and in the 88th minute, we conceded one more goal: after some confusion, Mörschel found the net once again, scoring from close-range (1-2). This goal decided the match.

We will continue on next Sunday at the home of Ferencváros.

According to the coach

Srdjan Blagojevic: It is a really difficult moment for us, emotions are on the highest level. We played 3 days ago, now we played 77 minutes with one man down but the guys did everything to fight. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the reward. I’m sad because of the players, we took the lead but perhaps, we were too tired, so we couldn’t keep our advantage.

Nebojsa Vignjevic: It is an important victory for us, it’s never easy to play in Debrecen, not even when we are in overload. Congratulations to my players but I would also like to congratulate to Debrecen for their fighting spirit and for the good match.

OTP Bank Liga, round 8.

DVSC-Újpest 1-2 (0-0).

Nagyerdei Stadium, 6645 spectators. Referee: Bogár G.

DVSC: Megyeri – Kusnyir, Romanchuk, Lagator, Ferenczi – Ojediran, Loncar – Kyziridis (Bévárdi, 71.), Dzsudzsák (Bárány, 71.), Bódi (Domingues, 62.) – Szécsi. Head coach: Srdjan Blagojevic.

Újpest: Banai – Kastrati, Fehér Cs., Hall, Pauljevic – Onovo, Jürgens (Ambrose, 46.) – Kiss T. (Ganea, 78.), Tajti, Csoboth (Simon K., 60.) – Ljujic (Mack, 4., Mörschel, 60.)). Head coach: Nebojsa Vignjevic.

Goal: Kusnyir (74.), as well as Mörschel (80., 88.).

Yellow card: Ferenczi (21.), Kyziridis (45+1.), Bódi (on the bench, 84.), as well as Mack (53.), Ganea (92.).

Dismissal: Lagator (13.).