Maccabi Tel Aviv picked up a point in the title hunt as they went into the International break following a goalless draw against Maccabi Petach Tikva
Head Coach Shota Arveladze made cosmetic changes to his Starting XI from last week’s Europa League encounter as Nosa Igiebor and Avi Rikan were both in the lineup for Omri Ben Harush and Oscar Scarione. Predrag Rajikovic was in goal while Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Eli Dasa rounded out the defense with Rikan. Captain Gal Alberman was the defensive midfielder while Haris Medunjanin and Igiebor were on his flanks as an attacking trio of Dor Micha, Tale Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson provided the firepower up front.
Available on the bench were Barak Levy, Egor Filipenka, Barak Itzhaki, Sagiv Yehezkel, Omri Ben Harush, Eliel Peretz and Yossi Benayoun.
First Half
Both sides traded play in the midfield until the 17th minute when Maccabi had the first chance of the evening as Medunjanin crossed a superb ball to Igiebor but his header was off the mark. Ten minutes later the aforementioned Medunjanin came out of the match due to injury and was replaced by youngster Eliel Peretz.
In the 31st minute Guy Melamed had an in close opportunity but he skied his chance well over the bar. Two minutes later Kjartansson took a brilliant cross by Micha but his header was just off the mark while in the 38th minute the Icelander again missed a prime opportunity as the ball went wide of the goal. And would you believe it, number 24 would once more come up empty after an Alberman cross in front of Dani Amos as the match remained goalless into the break.
Second Half
The second half began just as the first did with very little action for the first 15 minutes or so when Rikan’s corner fooled Amos and almost landed up behind him. Two minutes later Barak Itzhaki came on for Alberman to try and spark the offense which he attempted to do off of a Peretz cross in the 65th minute but his effort missed the mark. A minute later, Kjartansson’s header was saved on the line while Micha’s 68th minute opportunity from Dasa went over the goal.
In the 72nd minute, Rikan’s screamer from 20 meters out flew over the bar and Igiebor’s 79th minute header also couldn’t find the back of the goal. Three minutes later Coach Arveladze made his final substitution inserting Yossi Benayoun for Dasa.
As the contest moved into injury time Micha had a fantastic chance to score but Amos was up to the task yet again to deny number 15 while Kjartansson’s opportunity was tipped away to safety by the Petach Tikva shot stopper. The referee blew the final whistle as the Yellow & Blue came up empty again on the goals for side but picked up a valuable point in the race for the championship.
