E.ON Men's National Championship I: Szolnok streak, Szeged superb victory

The past few weeks have been particularly successful for Szolnok: after sweeping through the group stage in the Euro Cup and defeating Mladost in penalties in the opening match, the team from the Tisza riverbank claimed another victory in the domestic championship. Last week it was Honvéd, and now it was OSC's turn to be their victims: the Szolnok team dominated and eventually crushed their opponents - the two teams were neck and neck until the third quarter, then after 8-8, there was a 4-1 spree in the final quarter. Zerinváry Lóránd's inspired performance continues, as his two goals with a man advantage at the beginning of the fourth quarter secured the victory.

Significant events also took place in Szeged, where the home team took full advantage of Vasas' vulnerability. After suffering a heavy defeat against Barceloneta midweek, conceding a not-so-pleasant 18 goals against the Catalans, Szeged scored 15 against them at home. In the second quarter, it was clear that the defense of the visitors was still shaky, as the home team won that period 7-5. From that point on, they did not let go of the control. After building a three-goal lead, Vasas could not catch up. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Olivér Leinweber scored his fifth goal, then with Márton Nagy's man-up goal, Szeged took a 14-10 lead. At this point, the visiting team started playing at their usual level, closing the gap with three action goals, reducing the home team's lead with 3:13 remaining. However, after a timeout, with a bit of luck, Daniel Sánta managed to score from a rebound and with 2:18 left, the Budapest team could not perform any miracles. This means that for the first time since May 2017 - a 10-9 victory in a match for the 7th place - Szeged managed to defeat Vasas.

In the Sunday clash between the two Euro Cup teams, Honvéd and BVSC were neck and neck for three quarters; the offensive lines did not produce many goals, with only five goals each in the first twenty-four minutes. Given BVSC's firepower, this match probably favored Honvéd's script, and the home team also managed to disrupt the quartet of Tátrai-Konarik-Ekler-Csacsovszky - with each player scoring one goal - resulting in a comprehensive 16-4 victory for BVSC, ending the game with a six-goal difference.

However, Honvéd played more accurately, especially in the final quarter - Bengegúz Ekler, who "stayed" at Kőér, scored from a penalty at the beginning of the closing period, then Rolf Bencz scored his third goal from a penalty, and less than a minute later, Sebastian Hessels also scored. With a 4:20 lead, three goals ahead of the final whistle, the Szivós team was in control, even though the difference never exceeded one goal in the first three quarters. Miklós Csapó scored a goal for BVSC in the next attack, but afterwards, Hessels scored his third goal from a man-up situation, making it 1:39, which ultimately sealed the game. After suffering a defeat at Kőér against Szolnok and a poor performance in the first Euro Cup match in Serbia, the Honvéd team "bounced back" magnificently from the disappointment and secured a valuable victory against BVSC, who had been uncertain even at home in the previous round.

Regarding the Friday matches, defending champions FTC-Telekom visited Szentes with a significantly younger team compared to the midweek Champions League match. However, the hosts tried to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the champions not fielding their ace players, but the momentum only lasted for a half; at halftime, the score was close at 5-6. However, from that point on, there was no mercy, with Ákos Nagy, Zsombor Vismeg, and Vendel Vigvári all excelling with three goals each, allowing for Stylianos Argyropoulos of Greece to have a slightly off-target (1 goal from 7 shots), with a silent 0-2 following the dominant 2-7 third quarter; the shots on goal also reflected the superiority: 14-28; the home goalkeeper, Barnabás Kovács, made 13 saves to prevent the visitors from winning by a wider margin.

The other match was much more intense: although the newcomer Debrecen did not lead at any point in Kaposvár, they stayed close to the home team and were a block away from forcing a penalty shootout at the end. Kaposvár took a three-goal lead in the first half, but could not maintain it, as the visitors kept coming back to just one goal behind, although they never managed to equalize. Instead, the Somogy team always managed to pull away again, lastly in the fourth quarter when they led 14-11 with five and a half minutes left in the game. They could have secured their victory from a five-meter penalty, but the goalkeeper saved Bence Fülöp's shot, and then the Debrecen team scored two goals within 57 seconds, leaving them with 2:22 minutes to equalize. After Kaposvár missed another match ball - this time a penalty shot - the visitors also had a chance, but the shot by Patrik Macsi, who scored the final goal, was blocked by Fülöp, who compensated for his missed penalty. With 10 seconds left before the end, they secured the three points.

The match between Eger and Pécs was played in September, with the home team winning. On Sunday, the battle between the two other Euro Cup main round teams, Honvéd and BVSC, will take place, while the Miskolc-UVSE match has been postponed until the end of October.

E.ON National Championship I, Round 4

Metalcom-Szentes-FTC-Telekom 7-14

Kaposvári VK-DVSE-Master Good 14-13

Szolnoki Dózsa-Praktiker-Genesys-OSC-Újbuda 12-9

Szegedi VE-Vasas-Plaket 15-13

Endo Plus Service-Honvéd-BVSC-Manna ABC 9-6

Previously played:

DiGi-Eger-PVSK-Mecsek-Füszért 10-8

Postponed (October 30)

PannErgy-Miskolc-UVSE