The Yellow & Blue moved back into first place after defeating Hapoel Beer Sheva 1:0 on an Eliran Atar second half goal. John Ogu was sent off in the 24’ after shoving Avi Rikan while Yuval Shpungin also saw red as he collected his second yellow card in the 42’. Maccabi will now get ready for an away date at Hapoel Acre next Sunday night.
Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included Serbian shot stopper Predrag Rajikovic in goal along with Yuval Shpungin, Eitan Tibi, Jean-Sylvain Babin, Ofir Davidzada, Dor Peretz, Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan, Dor Micha the acting Captain, Nick Blackman and Eliran Atar.
Available on the bench were Daniel Tenenbaum, Tal Ben Haim, Vidar Kjartansson, Aaron Schoenfeld, Barak Itzhaki, Sheran Yeini and Cristian Battocchio.
First Half
Maccabi opened the match with a tremendous amount of energy and intensity as Peretz had the contest’s first chance with an attempt from long distance that missed the target to the left in the 2’. Nine minutes later, Golasa took the ball at the top of the box, turned and took a shot that Haimov picked up as the match began to be played primarily in the midfield.
Rikan took a shot from above the box in the 19’ as the ball hit the bar and bounced inside the goal before Beer Sheva keeper Guy Haimov picked it up as it looked like Maccabi took a 1:0 lead, but the goal line referee Eitan Shmuelevitz ruled that it did not cross the line. Five minutes later John Ogu was issued a yellow card and then was handed a red for shoving Rikan giving Maccabi a man advantage for the balance of the game. Prior to the fracas Shpungin and Ben Bitton also were shown yellow cards.
In the 34’ Golasa took a low liner from the top left of the box that Haimov sent out for a corner and Atar’s 41’ attempt was taken care of by the visiting shot stopper as well. A minute later, Shpungin was given his second yellow on a foul on Nwakaeme and was sent off as he was shown red leaving both team with ten men a piece. Micha sent an epic pass down to pitch to Atar who handed it off to an oncoming Davidzada but the defensive back put the ball over the bar while Atar also put his opportunity over the goal as the match went into the break goalless.
Second Half
Cristian Battocchio entered the match in the 46’ for Rikan. It didn’t take long for Maccabi to take the lead as Atar took a nifty pass from Micha in the box and put the ball behind Haimov for a 1:0 advantage in the 48’.
The Yellow & Blue continued to control the majority of play however, Rajikovic had to be sharp in the 67’ when he took care of a Guy Melamed opportunity. Aaron Schoenfeld came on for the goal scorer Eliran Atar a minute later as Cruyff looked to freshen up the attack. Battocchio sent a nice attempt towards Haimov in the 74’ but the ball just went wide left and at the other end of the pitch Melamed put a header on goal but the ball just cleared the bar to safety.
Matan Ohayon took a 20’ chance for Beer Sheva that deflected off a Maccabi defender and right to a waiting Rajikovic in the 78’ and one minute later Sheran Yeini came on for Eyal Golasa. Tibi’s 83’ header went to the left of the post and out and Loai Taha was shown his second yellow card and sent off in the 90’ as Maccabi wrapped up the 1:0 win to move back into first place.
