Aberdeen attacker Lawrence Shankland scored twice on his Scotland under-21s debut to hand caretaker manager Danny Lennon a huge lift in his first match in charge.
Former St Mirren manager Lennon was placed in temporary charge of the Dark Blues youngsters when Billy Stark resigned last November. The 45-year-old was given the job on a one-off basis for the friendly match against Hungary in Tatabanya, but wants to stay in charge.
And his employment prospects are looking much brighter after Shankland, a half-time substitute, scored twice in the final five minutes to secure a 2-1 victory.
Szenes Bence had put the hosts ahead just after the hour-mark but Scotland rallied for a deserved win.
Lennon handed the captain’s arm-band to one of his former Paisley players John McGinn and it proved a wise choice as the Buddies midfielder took control of the game
Dons forward Declan McManus – currently on-loan at Morton – headed straight at Hungary goalkeeper Gergely Nagy after Hearts’ midfielder Sam Nicholson swung over a cross, while McGinn shot over after finding room.
Sporting Lisbon midfielder Ryan Gauld glanced another header wide while Danny Handling of Hibernian also failed to find the target with a poorly-hit shot.
Scotland were dominant, but failed to find the breakthrough by the interval.
After another wayward McGinn effort, the visitors looked like they might pay for their wastefulness as Bence pounced on a loose ball in the penalty are to score past Jack Hamilton after 62 minutes. The Jambos goalkeeper denied the Hungary attacker a second with an excellent diving save, but Shankland came to the rescue with five minutes left, steering a well-placed header past Nagy for Scotland’s equaliser.
Nagy pushed away two more chances, the first from Shankland and the other a low shot from Dundee United’s Charlie Telfer, but could do nothing as Shankland came up with the winner as he bundled home from close range in stoppage time.