Eger caught off guard in round 2

Top tier teams always warn for complacency and urge to take every game and opponent equally serious. It is a cliché statement in sports business that applies to every level of play at every sport.
This weekend’s round 2 games proved once again the existence of this statement.
Title contender OSC played a tough game in round 1 last week against Honvéd, and only managed to secure the win in the final period. This weekend, BVSC gave the newly build super squad of coach Balazs Vince an even tougher game. During the summer BVSC added more depth to the squad with the addition of Béla Török and Mátyás Pásztor whose services were no longer needed at Szolnok.
With this edition, BVSC already proved to be a dangerous outsider. OSC experienced this at first hand as they only managed to break their host’s defense late in the 3rd period.
Gabor Kovacs’ goal put a 5-6 score on the board and the first time in the game that OSC took the lead.
However, BVCS’ resistance was not broken until the very last possession of the game.
Erik Bundschuh signed for the 7-9 final score by hitting his 3rd goal of the game and securing the hard fought victory. The 25-year old centre-back is firing at all cylinders and his goals are buying OSC the required time to find their mojo, without dropping points so far. 

Fellow title candidate Eger had a tough nut to crack as well. A nut that, eventually, even proved too tough to crack. The defending champion traveled to Budapest for their round 2 match up with UVSE.
At first it looked to become one of those blow out nights where the title favorite works on their goal difference. Eger lead 4 to 1 after the 1st period and all seemed to be going fine. In the 2nd period UVSE managed to pull one goal back but Eger was still ahead by 2.
After the half-time break Eger just lost their rhythm and was unable to connect anymore in offence.
The hosts took advantage of the disorganisation on Eger’s side and pulled the score level again to 6-6 ahead of the final quarter. When Balázs Erdélyi was excluded without substitution, followed by a penalty shot for UVSE, Eger suddenly faced a distressing situation and potential first defeat in the season. Surprisingly, this situation was just the motivation required for Eger to regain focus and Serbian lefthander Boris Vapenski hit the equaliser on the next attack.
In the following 4 minutes both teams then had chances to grab the lead but failed to cash in. In the dying seconds of the game UVSE’s Zoltán Tóth offered Eger the ultimate opportunity to get escape with the victory after he gave away a penalty. Serbian European champion Milos Cuk lined up to cash in this golden opportunity.  However, UVSE goalie József Laboncz felt his team had worked too hard to see the reward slip through their fingers. He saved Cuk´s penalty, causing Eger to drop the first points of the season.

Szolnok is following the struggles of their competitors with a smile on their face.
Last year´s runner-up welcomed Vasas and made an example out of the visitors from Budapest.
Szolnok was outstanding and conceded only 3 goals over the entire game while at the same time, inevitable with so much firepower on offence, scoring goals for fun. Dénes and Dániel Varga both hit a hattrick and the game finally ended in 14-3. A clean victory for the title favorites and the 2nd large victory in a row. Although they were expected to win these games, the ease with which the team plays is impressive. In round 3 there will be the first real clash of the competition when Szolnok travels to Eger to face their rivals head on.

Following OSC and Szolnok, there is only one other team with a 100% score after two games.
During the week FTC grabbed the win against top 4 rivals BVSC and this week they followed up with a victory over DVSE. The hosts walked away to a 5-1 lead in the first half and although DVSE did reduce the gap to 2 goals, the victory was never really in danger. On the 3rd consecutive home game FTC welcomes OSC in round 3 and both teams will definitely want to continue their, so far, perfect score.

One thing that is clear 2 rounds into the competition is how small the difference between winning and losing can be. Kaposvar topped Szeged by only 1 goal and PVSK and KSI shared the points after a 13-13 ending. Apart from Szolnok against Vasas, there were never more than 3 goals between the winner and the loser this weekend. Honvéd grabbed their first points, but the 9-6 final score did not come as easy as the score might suggest. Visitors Szentes were leading 5-2 early in the game before Honvéd got their heads together and came back to eventually grab the win.

Next weekend OSC and Szolnok will defend the Hungarian honour in Europe as round 2 of the LEN Champions League is scheduled to be played in 4 host cities. OSC will welcome ASC Duisburg from Germany, Sintez Kazan from Russia, and CSM Digi Oradea from Romania. Szolnok will hit the road for a trip to Kragujevac, Serbia to meet hosts Radnicki, CN Posillipo from Italy, and Yuzme Istanbul from Turkey. The stakes are qualification for the final group stages where Eger, 2014 Champions League winner Barceloneta, Pro Recco, Jug Dubrovnik, and several other powerhouses are waiting.
Because the Champions League action, OSC and Szolnok will continue round 3 of the domestic competition only on Wednesday October 22nd while the other teams line up again on Saturday October 18th for their 3rd match-up.
Round 2 results

Home	Visitors	Final Score
FTC	DVSE	11-9
Kaposvar	Szeged	13-12
Honved	Szentes	9-6
BVSC	OSC	7-9
Szolnok	Vasas	14-3
PVSK	KSI	13-13
UVSE	Eger	7-7

League Standings

Team	Games	Win	Draw	Loss	Points	GD
Szolnok	2	2	0	0	6	+19
FTC	2	2	0	0	6	+4
OSC	2	2	0	0	6	+4
Eger	2	1	1	0	4	+5
Szeged	2	1	0	1	3	+3
Honved	2	1	0	1	3	+1
Debrecen	2	1	0	1	3	0
Kaposvar	2	1	0	1	3	-4
Vasas	2	1	0	1	3	-10
UVSE	2	0	1	1	1	-1
KSI	2	0	1	1	1	-2
PVSK	2	0	1	1	0	-4
BVSC	2	0	0	2	0	-4
Szentes	2	0	0	2	0	-11

Top goal scorers

Name Player	Club	Games Played	Goals/Shots	Shot percentage
László Weszelovszky	Szentes	2	7/12	58%
Erik Bundschuh	OSC	2	6/9	67%
Róbert Fejős	KSI	2	6/9	67%
Mátyás Pásztor	BVSC	2	6/11	55%
Krisztián Manhercz	Szeged	2	6/16	46%