Goals by Dor Jan, Dean Akafi And Osher Abu polished off Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar"'s 3-0 win over Hapoel Kfar Saba
Three consecutive matches without a win were too much for Maccabi's Under-19s, who put on a brilliant display to breeze past Hapoel Kfar Saba 3-0 at the Kiryat Shalom training ground on Saturday. After two draws and a loss that put yet more space between them and the top of the national Under-19 Premiere League, Amir Turgeman's lads returned to their winning ways. Dor Jan found the net in the first half, Dean Akafi and Osher Abu scored in the second to give the Under-19s their first win in four matches.
It was that very run of winless form that saw Maccabi Tel Aviv open this match in attacking mode. After a number of chances in front of goal in the opening moments of the match, "Shachar" were already on the scoreboard in the fourth minute when Dor Jan poked in a Kfar Saba goalkeeper's deflection of Sharon Ziso's first attempt on goal. For "Shachar"'s leading scorer Jan it was his eighth goal of the season. The whole of the first half saw Maccabi "Shachar" in control as they looked for a second. Dor Jan came close to doubling both his and the team's total, while Osher Abu and Dean Akafi also tried their luck.
The second half started much as the first had ended, with most if not all the play going in the direction of the Hapoel Kfar Saba goal. Eight minutes after the restart Dean Akafi gathered a long ball down the left, cut into the area and sent the ball flying into the top of the Kfar Saba net to double Maccabi's advantage and register his first goal of the season. "Shachar" defender Osher Abu, who spent the last two seasons with the team and just returned after half a season's absence, was playing in just his second match of the season and his first in the starting line-up. But he too celebrated his first goal of the season fifteen minutes from time when he joined the offence for a corner kick and headed in Daniel Gretz's cross.
And so it stayed, 3-0, till the final whistle, giving Amir Turgeman and his charges three valuable points and their first clean sheet in three matches. Maccabi "Shachar" stay in fourth place, one point behind Bnei Yehuda in second. Next week they'll face Beitar Jerusalem in a tough match in the capital.
Line-up: Gal Tovli, Yarden Pinto, Osher Abu, Daniel Schwartzbaum, Shaun Goldberg, Roei Yair, Dor Buzaglo, Daniel Gretz, Dean Akafi, Sharon Ziso, Dor Jan
