On Friday morning, taking advantage of the international break, our team played a friendly match behind closed doors against the undefeated NB II current leaders Szombathelyi Haladás on one of the training pitches at the MOL Arena Sóstó.

Imre Szabics could count on Alef and Szilveszter Hangya again, but of course the national team players were missing, so the eleven of Kovács D. - Kojnok, Lüftner, Alef, Hangya - Funsho, Nyári, Makarenko, Petryak - Kodro, Zivzivadze started. The guests started with Verpecz - Dezamits, Guzmics, Devecseri, Debreceni - Tóth D., Doktorics, Sinut, Tóth Máté - Monori, Hegedűs.

In the seventh minute the first chance came with a shot being fired by Simut of Szombathely, but Kovács did not have to save. Ten minutes into the match, Kojnok broke inside the penalty area and shot from an acute angle, but Verpecz was able to punch the ball away. We had more possession in the first quarter of an hour of the match and our corners were dangerously curled in the front of the visiting goal, but the Sombathely defenders managed to clear.

In the 23rd minute Zivzivadze's header was saved by Verpecz, and a minute later the former Debrecen keeper was at work again when he gathered Nyári's low shot. About ten minutes after the previous chance, Kodro attempted a shot from 25 yards but missed the target.

After that, things picked up a bit, first Dávid Tóth's long-range shot went past Kovács' goal, then after a left-wing cross, Lüftner's close-range shot was saved by Verpecz who produced a great safe. Before the end of the half, Zalán Debreceni threatened with a 21-metre low effort after a corner, but we managed to block the ball. The referee blew for half time with the score at 0-0.

There were changes at the break with Hangya, Nyári, Alef, Funsho and Zivzivadze being replaced by Heister, Dinnyés, Dárdai, Csoboth and István Kovács.

The second forty-five minutes started with a goal for Haladás. A free kick went in front of the goal and was flicked on to Norbert Monori, who shot into the net (0-1). Just two minutes later, the reply came - Dinnyés played in Dárdai, who did well on the ball with great difficulty, and the ball was headed straight to Kodro, who did not miss the target from close range (1-1).

In the 55th minute, Doktorics' shot from the centre was confidently saved by Kovács. Three minutes later, Debreceni shot from the corner of the penalty area after a nice move, but Kovács got down nicely at the near post. The counter-attack saw Makarenko's cross headed over by Kodro. Another two minutes later, Csoboth's left-wing cross was met by Petryak at the far post, and the Ukrainian winger fired the ball into the side netting.

In the 65th minute, Kodro's centre was flicked on to István Kovács, who shot from a wide position, but Verpecz saved and it went out for a corner. In the 70th minute, after a nice visiting counter attack, Kovács made a great save and then Verpecz was on hand to save Petryak's shot. In the 77th minute, again the routine Haladas goalkeeper showed his keeping skills when he got down low to deny a 21-metre shot from Dárdai near the bottom left corner. A minute later, there was another Dárdai-Verpecz duel on a free-kick, but again the goalkeeper saved. Five minutes before the end, Doncsecz's solo cross was saved by Kovács, and Szijjártó, also on as a substitute, was first to the rebound, but Lüftner made a great block.

In the last minutes of the match we had more and more dangerous attacks, but before the end, Csoboth's cross was unfortunately missed by Kodro and Dárdai, so we played put a 1-1 draw against Szombathely.

The action continues on the 15th October at 19:30 at the MOL Arena Sósto against Budapest Honvéd.