Prematch
Matchday 14 of the Youth Ligat Ha’Al featured Maccabi “Shachar” taking on Maccabi “David Asis” Petach Tikva at the Ramle Stadium. Last week the Yellow & Blue defeated Ramat HaSharon 2:0 and looked to continue their win streak as they faced the second place side who were just three points ahead of Maccabi prior to the contest.

Coaching Petach Tikva was the Yellow & Blue’s former boss Ori Uzan while Dor Galili who was loaned to the visitors last campaign was back with Maccabi making the game even more interesting.

First Half
Maccabi opened up the match well and controlled the tempo right from the get go. In the 18th minute the young Yellow & Blue had their first chance of the contest as Dor Galili gave Eylon Almog a beauty of a ball but Adir Rafael was able to keep it out of the goal as the contest remained 0:0.

Ten minutes later, Maccabi “Shachar” scored to take a 1:0 lead thanks to Galili. Amit Rosenboim handed the ball off to Galili who had his back to the goal, turned and fired a rocket into the goal from a rough angle to give the Yellow & Blue the advantage.

In the 33rd minute, Tomer Benbenishti picked up his second yellow card of the match after a brutal tackle on Fadi Najar and was handed a red card for his efforts. Following the ejection, Eylon Almog and Ron Zamir each had chances to increase the lead but the visiting keeper made a pair of big saves to keep the score at 1:0 going into the break.

Second Half
The away side made a couple of substitutions at halftime while Guy Tzarfati came into the second half with the same Starting XI that opened the game. While Maccabi continued to control the match they didn’t have many dangerous chances to add an insurance marker.

Tzarfati tried to get his guys going by inserting Eden Kartzev, Guy Shetach and Netanel Peretz into the game The young Yellow & Blue has an 80th minute opportunity when Or Dasa crossed a ball to Almog, but his header was off the mark as Maccabi “Shachar” won their second straight contest as they now prepare to travel up to Kiryat Shemona next week.