Match Report
First half:
Horst Heese sported his new hair cut, but could still be seen in the very same designer shades that he’d been carrying for most of the qualification tournament so far. The mood in the Maltese camp seemed good prior to kick-off. They would play with a relatively strong wind in their backs in the first half, and Olympiakos Volou forward Imre Boda would kick the game into action.
The opening sequences brought little goalmouth action, but the hosts set the tone in keeping the ball among themselves, letting the visitors do most of the running, unsurprisingly. However, there appeared to be a bit of complacency in the Hungarian play, and their defence would push high. This could potentially make them vulnerable, though no-one had foreseen what would happen right on the seven minute mark: big defender John Buttigieg won the ball inside his own half, and some delicious trickery beat off light challenges from no less than four Hungarian players. As he advanced towards the centre circle, he played in little forward Carmel Busuttil, who easily skipped past both Ervin Kovács and the despairing lunge of László Disztl. All of a sudden the KRC Genk forward found himself with only the goalie to beat, which he did with ease. Malta were a goal up with the game only a few minutes old. “Just what the doctor ordered”, Heese seemed to utter on the sidelines as he was sat on the bench with a big grin on his face.
In their previous outing in Spain, Malta had set about their tactics in man-marking the Spanish forward three. Here, only Edwin Camilleri was seen tight to his man throughout, with the lively Boda his task to keep calm. As Gyula Hajszán often pulled out towards the left hand side, he was left relatively undisturbed, where previously Joe Galea would have been seen tracking him down. However, Galea appeared to keep a watchful eye on Lajos Détári as soon as the Hungarian playmaker approached the Maltese penalty area, and in midfield it did appear as though the second Hungarian maestro, György Bognár, was being watched by Martin Gregory.
Despite fielding both Détári and G Bognar from the word ‘go’, there appeared to be a slight lack of creativity from the home side. Détári almost seemed as part of a three-pronged attack early on, with Boda running right where one had previously seen József Kiprich, whilst Hajszán was searching his prefered territory of wide left. Could this have been deliberate tactics from Bicskei? Or was Détári just too complacent to be bothered about what had been said in the days and hours prior to kick-off? Soon, though, as he realized that Galea was sticking fairly tight to him, Détári would retreat into more familiar territory of central midfield, from where he would distribute passes towards his comrades: soon right into the eager path of Boda, soon left towards Hajszán and János Sass, who would also be seeking out that particular area of the field. With Boda in more central positions than what Kiprich had been in Hungary’s previous matches, the home team’s right hand side was more or less up to right back István Kozma to deal with. And with József Keller a third left-sided player willing to go forward, there did appear to be a lack of sideways balance to whatever Hungary were trying to muster.
Malta defended well. John Buttigieg was his usual confident self, always helping goalkeeper David Cluett out on goal kicks, and often seen advancing with the ball at his feet. Cluett and Malta were let off the hook on 18 minutes, when a Kozma shot from the angle of the box was spilled, but he redeemed himself when he saved Zoltán Bognár’s follow-up from close range. At left back, Alex Azzopardi was a lot more confident now he did not have a man-marking assignment. And at right back, even Denis Cauchi, who had not played very well after coming on for Azzopardi in Seville, looked sound, despite Hungary’s repeated efforts to try and overload his side. The ever industrious three of right sided midfielder Charlie Scerri and the two forwards Carmel Busuttil and David Carabott made sure that the home team’s defenders were kept on their toes. Despite sitting deep, Malta were not afraid of trying to exploit their counter attacking opportunities, which were usually directed by their captain Ray Vella. Vella was once again decent on the ball, with his calmness spreading confidence across to his team mates.
The first half was a 45 minutes long siege on the Malta goal. Lázsló Disztl had been tasked with libero duties, but he was never geographically far behind his central defender colleague Zoltán Bognár. Both full-backs were pushing forward; in particular Kozma on the right. György Bognár was playing just ahead of defensive midfielder Ervin Kovács. Often Détári would come and collect the ball from any team mate and angle his passes long. It was all so easy to read for the Maltese defence. What opportunities arose hardly came the Hungarians’ way due to intricate attacking play. They were a cautious threat from set-pieces, but rarely troubled Cluett. Malta kept being resilient under their West German coach. To go in a goal ahead at half time was still more than the visitors had planned for. Left back Azzopardi had seen yellow for kicking the ball away after a free-kick was awared to the home side on 35 minutes. And Cluett had escaped severe embarassment when the referee had adjudged Imre Boda to have been unfair on the Maltese goalkeeper when he kicked the ball from mid air as Cluett was hoisting it up in the air for a long punt upfield. Boda collected and headed through an empty net, but the referee cancelled out the ‘goal’.
Second half:
Both sides would make a half time substitution: Hungary took off left-sided midfielder János Sass and replaced him with Pál Fischer, who started the half wide on the right hand side. For Malta, central midfielder Martin Gregory had been replaced by Silvio Vella in a straight swap. With Gregory kind of attending to György Bognár in the first half, would that be Silvio Vella’s task in the second half?
The windy conditions did not improve during the half time break. In fact, they had seemed to deteriorate, and although Hungary were now playing with the wind in their back, they seemed unable to take advantage, as Malta obviously sat deep and were waiting for whatever the home team would throw at them. Too often Hungary’s lack of ideas would see them fall for the temptation to be playing long balls, which seemed futile given the conditions. Détári, whom you would think could unlock any defence with little, precise through balls, was the main culprit, and typically György Bognár would demonstrate in no uncertain terms how he wanted his colleagues to keep the ball along the ground. He had just been unable to reach a pass which came wind assisted in his direction but went out of play.
Whereas Malta had been 5-3-2 in the first half, they were now happy to try and soak up pressure with only Carmel Busuttil up top. Silvio Vella and Joe Galea, whoever was the nearest Maltese, would be attending to Détári, whereas David Carabott played out the second half wide left. Charles Scerri kept on running throughout on the opposite flank, and was instrumental in a number of counter attacks which Malta were able to string together. In fact, had they been just a little more precise in their passing play, they could so easily have won the game. They had five solid opportunities to catch Hungary on the break, with the home side having committed too many players forward. Also, the linesman would come to the Hungarians’ aid on a couple of occasions, probably wrong-doing the visitors. During another counter attack, left back Azzopardi had been cynically taken out by a despairing lunge from Kozma, who could count himself lucky to stay on the pitch. In fact, the referee didn’t even produce a booking for the foul which happened with Azzopardi clean through and just outside of the home team’s penalty area. Buttigieg wasted the resulting free-kick with a curled effort half a yard over Péter Disztl’s crossbar.
Although Hungary kept possession for probably 70 % of the second half, they did not manage to create a lot of openings, and, indeed, it was the visitors who looked the more dangerous. However, the boys in red shirts did get an early second half equalizer when Malta full-back Denis Cauchi (pronounced ‘Kauki’ if you must know) tripped Gyula Hajszán inside the box following a short corner from Lajos Détári. When Malta conceded a penalty in their 2-0 home defeat against Spain, captain Ray Vella had debated so heftily with the ref that he had earned himself a caution. He protested towards the Israelian referee as well, but with no card produced this time. Imre Boda, who would finish the season as the Greek league’s leading goalscorer, tucked away the penalty high to the right inside of David Cluett’s goal frame. The ‘keeper had dived the other way. Surely, this would just be an indication of what was to follow?
No. Hungary left it very late, in fact until injury time, before they produced an opportunity which could’ve won them the game. Boda struck a ferocious effort via the crossbar and over. By then it could have been too little, too late, had Malta taken any of the counter attacking opportunities which presented themselves in the latter 45. Charlie Scerri had thrown away his shin pads during half time and came out for the second half socks around ankles, just like we had seen in Seville, a clear sign that he was up for the battle. Scerri played his part, but so too did the rest of the Malta players, who after the final whistle ran across to West German Heese to celebrate with their manager what was a quite sensational away point. Heese, seen smoking on a couple of occasions during the second half, was all smiles, and had by then changed from his fashionable sun glasses into specs. As for the hosts, this would be a catastrophical result against the side that everyone had them down to take maximum points from. Bicskei had thrown caution to the wind when he took off (attacking) full-back Kozma for forward Kiprich, leaving themselves dreadfully exposed, going in desperate search for a winner, yet they could so easily have lost. Now they were left with two points from a possible four against Malta. Would Bicskei keep his post after this?
35′
