On Thursday, the international cup has started for Loki in Armenia. Our team stepped onto the pitch against Alashkert in the 2^nd qualifying round of the Conference League in Abovyan, the city next to Yerevan. There were several supporters who even this far accompanied DVSC and some fans could not be at the match because of flight cancellation.

Antonio Mance and Alexander Mojzis were not in the travelling team because of smaller injuries but the others were ready for the fight in the really hot weather (35 °C). There were no big surprises in the starting eleven, Márk Szécsi and Alexandros Kyziridis started on the two sides.

At the beginning of the match, Loki almost took the lead: in the 3^rd minute, Balázs Dzsudzsák hit the crossbar and his next shot, not long after, was brilliantly saved by the Armenian goalkeeper. The home team was also trying but Balázs Megyeri confidently saved the long-range shot of Wheymar. Both teams were giving the maximum and there were a lot of actions.

In the 8^th minute, Márk Szécsi shot wide from 17 meters and in the 11^th minute, Cancarevic saved the close-range curl of Dorian Babunski, which was a great chance. DVSC was definitely playing better but we weren’t able to convert our chances to goals. In the 26^th minute, the Armenian goalkeeper saved another shot from Dzsudzsák, while on the other side, Agdon slid wide from 8 meters in the 31^st minute.

In the final minutes of the 1^st half, Khurtsidze headed wide of the goal. In the 41^st minute, Jánost Ferenczi had to be substituted because of an injury and Oleksandr Romanchuk came instead of him. After the substitute, Christian Manrique was playing as left-back and Dusan Lagator stepped higher. There were no goals scored until the break.

After the halftime, Loki tried to put bigger pressure on the opponent, and we succeeded. In the 50^th minute, Dorian Babunski passed from the left to the centre and Stefan Loncar, who arrived on the long side, tackled and scored to the bottom right corner from 14 meters (0-1).

We had an advantage but had to be cautious in the back as well: in the 55^th minute, Khurtsidze headed just wide of the goal. In the 60^th minute, Dorian Babunski shot over the goal from 11 meters, but our team had several great build-ups. In the 69^th minute, Brandom Domingues and Joao Oliveira, the two new summer transfers, came on as substitutes and Loki tried to finish the match with a victory.

The final minutes were also exciting, in the 80^th minute, Balázs Megyeri made a brilliant save when Wbeymar shot from close-range. Alashkert did everything to equalize, and meanwhile, Ádám Bódi and Donát Bárány also stepped onto the pitch. In the final minutes, there were some chances on both sides but the final result was the 0-1 victory away for Loki. On Monday, DVSC will play the first league match against Mezőkövesd at home, and a week later comes the return match against Alashkert in the Conference League.

With the eyes of the coach

Srdjan Blagojevic: The match was tough as expected, and it was the first competitive match in this season. In spite of the hot weather, we had some periods of good play but we weren’t able to score for some time. For 60 minutes, we were controlling the game and scored as well. In the last part of the match, we had to be more defensive but all in all, I’m satisfied with the play of the team. It was only the first match of the duel and we know that the return match in Debrecen won’t be easy.

UEFA Conference League, 2^nd qualifying round, 1^st match.

Alashkert (Armenian)-DVSC 0-1 (0-0).

Abovyan City Stadium, 1400 spectators. Referee: Vassilis Fotias (Greek).

Alashkert: Cancarevic – Ustinov, Carrillo, Voskanyan, Muzek – Racines (Fatai, 77.), Mimito (Gareginyan, 77.), Khurtsidze (Naibandyan, 90.), Wbeymar, Flores – Agdon (Kutalia, 60.). Head coach: Vahe Gevorgyan.

DVSC: Megyeri – Kusnyír, Dreskovic, Lagator, Ferenczi (Romanchuk, 41.) – Loncar, Manrique – Szécsi (Joao Oliveira, 69.), Dzsudzsák (Bódi, 87.), Kyziridis (Domingues, 69.) – Dorian Babunski (Bárány, 87.). Head coach: Srdjan Blagojevic.

Goal: Loncar (50.).

Yellow card: Muzek (65.).