Solid Hungary hold firm

Hungary 1-1 Moldova
Hungary stretched their unbeaten run to five games after a 1-1 draw with Moldova in an international friendly at the Üllõi úti stadium in Budapest.

Group leaders
Home coach Imre Gellei was most concerned with fine tuning his team, recalling MTK Hungária FC midfield player Gábor Zavadszky for the first time in over a year. Zavadszky, who was last capped by his national side in late 2000, has been in imperious form for Hungarian first division leaders MTK this season, scoring a memorable double against Békéscsabai EFC in September.

General domination
Gellei's team largely dominated and were unlucky not to secure a late winner. Moldova, nevertheless, took the lead against the run of play in the 16th minute when Evgheni Patula scored from close range, neatly chipping Hungarian goalkeeper Gabor Király. There were few opportunities for either side in the remainder of the half, though the home side enjoyed the lion's share of the possession.

Second-half leveller
Clearly invigorated by Gellei's half-time team talk, Hungary came out after the interval determined to secure the leveller and did not have to wait long to do so, Hertha BSC Berlin's Pal Dardai equalising in the 55th minute with a fine strike.

Shot blocked
Zalaegerszegi TE striker Krisztian Kenesei, who came on as a substitute, almost grabbed the decisive goal six minutes from time, but his close-range effort was well saved by Moldovan goalkeeper Evgheni Hmaruc.

Next qualifiers
Hungary now look forward to building on the impressive start to their UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifying Group 4 campaign when they travel to Poland next March, having already drawn with Sweden and beaten San Marino. Moldova are yet to pick up a point in Group 3, and travel to fellow slow starters Belarus in March.