OTP Bank Liga 2023/2024

Loki made a necessary comeback: Kisvárda-DVSC 1-3

Even though Erik Kusnyir, Jorgo Pellumbi and Thor Úlfarsson were still out of the squad due to their injuries, Loki started the match against Kisvárda on Easter Saturday with the hope of victory in a summerlike weather with 25 degrees. Regarding the starting XI, there were no big surprises: players delivering a good performance in the 5-1 victory over ZTE got a chance to play this time as well.

At the beginning of the match, the approximately 300 supporters accompanying Loki could see that in the 5th minute, following an attack from the right side, Mesanovic arriving in the centre found the net with a deflected ball bouncing off a block and aided by the crossbar into the bottom right corner (1-0). Thus, our team immediately had to change the rhythm and that’s what happened sometimes. The dominance on the pitch didn’t translate into significant opportunities and we had to pay attention to the counterattacks of Kisvárda. However, the equalizer finally came towards the end of the first half. Following a pass from Balázs Dzsudzsák, Botond Vajda broke into the box from the right, dribbled inward, then scored a beautiful goal into the top corner from 9 meters (1-1). No more goals were scored until halftime.

DVSC started the second half very dynamically. In the 49th minute, Brandon Domingues made a dangerous header, but Donát Bárány couldn’t reach the ball. However, Loki made a comeback in the 54th minute, when Balázs Dzsudzsák made a nice cross from the left and Brandon Domingues nodded the ball into the centre of the goal from 6 meters (1-2).

Our team controlled the game after that as well. In the 63rd minute, Brandon Domingues could have scored with one more header, but it went wide off the goal. Thirty minutes before the end, Stefan Loncar came off the bench (later Márk Szécsi and Ádám Bódi, then Christian Manrique also came on as substitutes). Our team tried to score a third goal to decide the match. For some time, our attempts were not successful (Kovács made a huge save to deny Balázs Dzsudzsák’s and Meldin Dreskovic’s attempts), however, in the 90th minute, after Ádám Bódi’s pass, Christian Manrique brilliantly curled the ball into the right side of the goal from 16 meters (1-3). Thus, Loki confidently won and collected three valuable points.

We will continue next Saturday against MTK at Nagyerdei Stadium.

According to the coach

Tamás Feczkó: We started well and could have scored one more goal after taking the lead. We had to play a more open game after conceding a goal in the second half and made some annoying mistakes. I hope that we will be able to win in the Cup.

Srdjan Blagojevic: Congratulations to my players for the victory. I’m satisfied with our performance; it was a well-deserved victory. The beginning of the match was not easy as Kisvárda changed their play. We needed some time to adapt to that and in the meantime, we conceded a goal. We were a bit nervous but reacted well, and we could equalize before the break with the beautiful goal of Botond Vajda. We made some tactical changes in the second half, we controlled the game and could have decided the match earlier. I’m happy for this victory. Kisvárda is not a bad team, I wish them all the best!

OTP Bank League, round 26.

Kisvárda-DVSC 1-3 (1-1).

Kisvárda, 2580 spectators. Referee: Vad II.

Kisvárda: Kovács M. – Széles (Wellington, 73.), Jovicic, Ötvös – Nikolov – Navratil, Cipetic, Lucas (Melnik, 60.), Camaj (Spasic, 60.) – Makowski (Matic, 60.), Mesanovic (Ilievski, 68.). Head coach: Tamás Feczkó.

DVSC: Megyeri – Baranyai, Dreskovic, Lagator, Ferenczi – Ojediran, Szuhodovszki (Loncar, 68.) – Vajda (Szécsi, 79.), Dzsudzsák (Manrique, 87.), Domingues (Bódi, 79.) – Bárány. Head coach: Srdjan Blagojevic.

Goal: Mesanovic (5.) as well as Vajda (39.), Domingues (54.), Manrique (90.).

Yellow card: Ötvös (23.), Cipetic (53.).