Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem played out a goalless draw at Teddy Stadium on Monday in a playoff phase fixture that had its moments of nearlies but in which neither team was able to find a vital moment of inspiration.
The result leaves Maccabi with a 12-point lead over Maccabi Haifa in second place, they drew 2-2 with Hapoel Haifa on Sunday, while Beitar are in third place in the upper playoffs, 20 points off the pace.
Beitar, looking composed early on, had a good chance when Levi Garcia beat two men in the area and shot at goal but Daniel Tenenbaum was his usual calm self and he blocked the shot that was then cleared by the defence.
In the 28th minute, Beitar came close when a Garcia curling free kick from 22 metres on the right beat Tenenbaum in the Maccabi goal, but the post came to his rescue and the score remained goalless.
Beitar captain Idan Vered had a decent try in the 40th minute when he sped into the area from the left and shot diagonally at Tenenbaum, but it wasn’t enough to spur the scoreboard operators into action.
The second half opened with a bit of a flourish as there was a chance at either end early on as first Dor Peretz had his powerful shot cleared parried by Itamar Nitzan in the Beitar goal and it was followed almost immediately at the other end with another Vered shot that was parried over the bar for a corner by Tenenbaum.
The game then petered out into a battle to avoid defeat, although towards the end Nick Blackman just failed to connect with the ball as he slid in at the far post after an excellent cross from the left by Yonatan Cohen.
The result means that Maccabi have set a new record against Beitar in not conceding a goal in five consecutive matches. It was the second consecutive goalless draw between the two outfits this season.
