Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv’s starting lineup reflected the fact that a number of players had been part of the Under-18 side in this past week’s winter tournament. Haviv Ohayon was the only player of the five who were in the squad that opened for the club against Petach Tikva.
The Yellow-and-Blue’s first chance came in the 20th minute when Amit Shapira received a terrific cross field pass and entered the attacking area. The midfielder then gave the ball off to striker Lazar Durovic who waited to pass it to Kanichowsky who took the tough angled shot that eventually went out. Five minutes later Idan Binyamin had a wonderful chance in the Maccabi box but Ohayon was in the right place to grab the effort.
The hosts continued to look for a goal and finally took a 1:0 lead in the 26th minute. Amit Rosenboim lifted the ball to Shapira who headed it back to Eden Kartzev who drilled it into the Petach Tikva goal.
In the 35th minute Shapira had a chance to double the score as he got by his defender on the right side but his effort was batted away by keeper Itay Shmuel. The half came to an end as captain Dan Glazer picked up a 44th minute yellow card.
The Yellow-and-Blue goal scorer, Kartzev picked up a yellow card of his own in the 53rd minute when he fouled the opposition’s central defender. Ziv Arie then made a pair of substitutions bringing in Or Dasa and Mahmoud Al Awesat for Eylon Almog and Lazar Durovic. Just a few minutes later Maccabi added to their lead when Kanichowsky was fouled in the box good for a penalty that Kartzev converted for a brace and a 2:0 advantage.
In the 63rd minute Kartzev exited the match and Tomer Altman who played all three National Team games earlier in the week took his place while Dor Galili who just returned from army duty replaced Shapira. For the remaining minutes of the match end to end play was on the menu but no real opportunities materialized. In the 79th minute, Galili’s 20 meter effort would go wide and Glazer’s chance also didn’t find its target while Kanichowsky’s hard shot was sent out for a corner by the Petach Tikva keeper. Rany Hamzey entered the match near it’s end to earn his first minutes of the year.
