May 5, 1977, State Cup semi-final
The stunning 6-1 win over Maccabi Netanya was quite possibly the best half ever seen in the Israeli game. It was a clash of giants between Maccabi Netanya, with a then star-studded lineup that included Mottele Spielger, Oded Machness, David Lavie and Moshe Gariani, but Maccabi were undaunted and delivered their opponents a knockout blow.
Viki Peretz got Maccabi’s show on the road in the fifth minute and Netanya equalised in the 34th through Yossi Yona but nobody could have predicted what was to come in the second half as Peretz added three more goals in the 50th, 69th and72nd minutes, and then the mercurial Benny Tabak completed the rout with two goals of his own in the 81st and 84th minutes. That win sent Maccabi to the State Cup final.
January 1, 1977, Tel Aviv Derby
The 15th round of the top division saw Maccabi prevail in a red hot clash against Hapoel in front of 21,000 spectators at Bloomfield and it confirmed them as the top side in the first half of the league. They had a nine point lead at the top of the pile in a season when only two points were awarded for a win.
Benny Tabak broke the ice in the 12th minute but in the 44th, Hapoel equalised through Yehezkel Hazoum. Maccabi delivered another sparkling second-half performance and regained the lead in the 48th minute through Avraham Levy and then Viki Peretz made it 3-1 in the 65th minute before Shiye Feigenbaum reduced the arrears to 3-2 four minutes from the end.
November 6, 1976, overturning a deficit for a 4-1 win over Maccabi Netanya
This was probably the harbinger for the State Cup semi-final win as Maccabi, playing at Bloomfield in the seventh round of the league, got another famous win. Oded Machness put the visitors ahead in the third minute but the rest of the match was all in the hands of Maccabi who struck through Meir Nimni (45), Viki Peretz (46), Yehuda Gargir (73) and Yaron Oz (90).
September 18, 1976, a 4-2 win over Maccabi Haifa
The season kicked off worryingly and there was no way to know that it would culminate in a championship. Haifa were 2-0 up after only 23 minutes following an Avi Cohen own goal in the seventh minute and a strike from Baruch Maman. But Yaakov Grundman’s boys were not going to give up and Benny Tabak hit a hat trick with goals in the 32nd, 38th and 78th minutes. Viki Peretz added one of his own in the 76th minute.
