Trailing Hapoel Beer Sheva 1-0 at half time, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s turned the match around after the restart courtesy of goals from Yonatan Cohen and Sohil Armeli to book an important victory in the last contest of the first round of Under-19 Premier League fixtures
After suffering a disappointing injury time loss to Maccabi Petach Tikva last week, fifth placed Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" set off to Reiser Stadium to face Hapoel Beer Sheva, ranked four places below them in the Under-19 Premier League table, for the last match of this season's first round fixtures. Looking to finish off that round on a positive note and improve their road performances into the bargain, "Shachar" head coach Ziv Arie made five changes to the side that faced Petach Tikva: Effi Tal opened in the right back position, Ofek Barzani at left back, Daniel Gretz in midfield and Matan Hozez and Yonatan Cohen in attack.
Unfortunately the first half boded ill as the home side jumped to a 1-0 lead and until the sides left the pitch for the interval, Maccabi's extra fire power up front failed to find an equaliser. The comeback, however, began three minutes after the restart as Yonatan Cohen found the net for "Shachar", his second goal of the season in his first match as part of the starting eleven. Twenty minutes later the turnaround was complete as striker Sohil Armeli netted his third goal of the season to give his side a 2-1 advantage they held on to until the end of the match.
Maccabi's Under-19s will kick off the second round of Under-19 Premier League matches next Saturday when they travel to Hapoel Ra'anana, a side they beat 3-1 in the home fixture in September.
