Gergely Rudolf and Vladimir Koman fired home from long range to get Hungary's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign up and running despite a battling effort from Moldova in Budapest.

Anything less than a win was never an option for the Hungarians after they started with defeat in Sweden at the weekend while Moldova went into the game on a high after their opening win over Finland.

But Rudolf and Koman settled home nerves with goals early in the second half before Moldova's Alexandru Suvorov threatened to dash the hosts' optimism with his 79th-minute strike.

Suvorov had the first chance in the 20th minute which home keeper Gabor Kiraly had to tip round the post, then Zoltan Gera should have opened the scoring at the other end but his close-range shot was booted off the line.

Igor Tigirlas had the best chance of the half for the visitors when he raced clean through only to hit his shot wide of the target, and it was a mistake the Moldovans would pay for after the break.

Rudolf pounced on a half-cleared corner in the 50th minute to rifle the ball past keeper Stanislav Namasco and 16 minutes later Koman drilled a low effort home from 20 yards.

Moldova piled on the pressure with Suvorov squeezing the ball home for his side but Hungary held firm for an encouraging win to give their qualifying hopes a much-needed boost.