Maccabi “Shachar” Tel Aviv got the second round of Toto League matches underway with a visit to SC Ashdod. The last match between the two sides saw Dan Glazer score the decisive goal, but the captain transferred to Beitar Tel Aviv/Ramle and will no longer
be with the club for the balance of the season. Idan Yogev was given the captain’s armband in his place to lead Ziv Arie’s side who were looking to pick up another win after a victory last week against Bnei Yehuda. Ron Gabbay who was loaned from Maccabi to Ashdod met his former club for the first time as well.
Maccabi began the match pressing their opponent but it was Ashdod who garnered the first chance when the host’s header was tipped to safety with the aid of the bar by Haviv Ohayon. Even though Maccabi controlled the tempo of play, the young Yellow-and-Blue were unable to capitalize on their opportunities.
In the 30th Ashdod again had a chance to take the lead taking advantage of a mistake by the Maccabi defense, but their effort went wide of the goal. However, in the 41st minute 
Gaby Kanichowsky and Oliel Peretz combined on a gorgeous play that gave the Yellow-and-Blue the lead. Peretz, who just returned to the Under-19 team laid off a beauty of a pass to Eylon Almog at the edge of the box as Almog sent the ball into the top left hand corner of the goal to take a 1:0 lead which the visitors took into the break.
Head Coach Ziv Arie made a substitution to open up the second half as Or Dasa replaced Shay Golan. The second half was played at a slower pace than the first due to the many fouls that were called. Dasa had a chance to help add to the Maccabi lead but his header went wide of the goal.
Three more substitutions were made by Arie over the course of the second half as the coach introduced Mahmoud Awesat, Omri Haramati and Tomer Altman. The balance of the half saw end to end action but neither side was able to take advantage of their opportunities as the match ended with Maccabi picking up the valuable three points to open the second round.
