On Tuesday evening, our team travelled to face last season’s bronze medallists and current EHF European League Final4 contenders, MOL Esztergom. The match promised to be a challenging one, especially coming off a tough game last weekend, while one eye was also on the upcoming Hungarian Cup Final4. The scheduling was far from ideal, but the competition rules did not allow for the match to be played at a later date, despite both clubs being agreed on it.

Before throw-off, the two clubs, Esztergom city representatives, former teammates Klára Csiszár-Szekeres and Anikó Cirjenics-Kovacsics, as well as her former coach András Németh, paid tribute to Zita Szucsánszki, who will retire at the end of the season.

Emily Vogel opened the scoring, and although the hosts initially kept level, we gradually took control. Despite some attacking errors, our defence remained solid, and by keeping Esztergom on a low score, we held the lead throughout. The gap was typically two or three goals, occasionally stretching to four, and in the closing seconds of the first half we established our biggest advantage up to that point (11–16).

After the break, extending the lead further would have been ideal, but instead Jesper Jensen called a timeout five minutes into the second half. Our loanee Anna Ballai, playing for the hosts, scored three times in quick succession, cutting the deficit to two. The timeout came at the right moment — not only did it halt Esztergom’s momentum, but we soon pulled away again.

Kinga Janurik, coming into goal, contributed with key saves, while at the other end we scored from well-worked attacking moves. At 18–24, it was now Gábor Elek who called a timeout, reflecting how well we had responded. Although we could not extend the lead further, we never allowed the hosts closer than three goals, always producing a moment of individual quality when needed.

We did not push a high tempo, especially in the second half, only accelerating when necessary. The game remained firmly in our hands, and a goal from Petra Simon ultimately confirmed the two points.

With a 31–28 win, we leave Esztergom with confidence and can now turn our focus to the Hungarian Cup Final4, where we have won the title back-to-back in each of the last four editions.

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