Preview
Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived at the Yud Alef stadium ahead of the MD4 league encounter against Ashdod SC aiming to continue their perfect start to the season. Vladimir Ivic whose side recorded three victories from the opening three league matches against Maccabi Bnei Reineh, Hapoel Hadera and Ironi Kiryat Shmona with an impressive 14-1 goal record. Maccabi’s opponents Ashdod, coached by Ran Ben Shimon, experienced an indifferent start to the campaign winning 2 and losing 1 which placed them fourth in the table with six points.
Ivic welcomed Nir Bitton back into the side as the 30-year-old central defender returned for the first time to his old stomping ground he left nine years ago before joining Scottish giants Celtic. Prior to kick-off, Bitton was handed a framed shirt as tribute for his services to the Ashdod club. Bitton, lined-up alongside Sheran Yeini and Enric Saborit as the three central defenders with Andre Geraldes and Ofir Davidzada completing Maccabi’s defensive line. Dan Glazer as the anchor-man welcomed back an old partner to the midfield engine room as Dor Peretz was handed his first start since re-joining the club. Gabi Kanichowsky who scored a brace against Kiryat Shmona last week kept his place in the starting line-up alongside Parfait Guiagon who scored Maccabi’s third. In the absence of Djordje Jovanovic who was serving his one-match touchline ban due to his sending off against Kiryat Shmona, Eran Zahavi led the line.
New signing Derrick Lukassen, made his first appearance in the squad as the Dutch central defender was named by Ivic amongst the substitutes. Having recovered from the ankle injury he sustained in Nice a fortnight ago, Lukassen’s fellow Dutchman Joris van Overeem, returned to the squad for the first time. Alongside the Dutch duo, Ivic named goalkeeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Dan Biton, Oscar Gloukh, Avi Rikan, Eyal Golasa, Maor Kandil and Matan Hozez who were all waiting for their chance to make an impact.
First Half
Some 4500 traveling Maccabi fans filled the majority of the stadium cheering the team on right from the start. Dor Peretz making his debut start in midfield created time and space on the ball as he broke through the middle but miscued his pass. Parfait Guiagon’s silky skills helped the diminutive midfielder win a corner which was cleared by Ashdod’s defence as Maccabi dominated the early stages. In the 12th minute however, the young Ivorian dribbled across the box and was tripped by a defender as referee Orel Grinfeld awarded a penalty. Eran Zahavi stepped up to take the spot kick but somehow lost his footing and managed to send the penalty over the crossbar to keep the score at 0-0.
In the 24th minute Ofir Davidzada’s cross from the left reached Andre Geraldes at the opposite flank before the Portuguese cut the ball back to Gabi Kanichowsky who flashed a shot wide of the post. Kanichowsky continued to look lively as four minutes later Sheran Yeini won a tackle in midfield and found the industrious midfielder who sent a weak left foot shot which was easily collected by Yoav Gerafi in Ashdod’s goal.
In the 38th minute and against the run of play Ashdod reached a glorious chance to break the deadlock. Hamoudi Kna’an raced clear through from the middle of the park before Daniel Peretz charged off his line and made a spectacular save to keep his goal locked. At the opposite end on 41 Dor Peretz came close as he met Kanichowsky’s corner with a diving header which was blocked by an Ashdod defender. Maccabi increased the pressure in a bid to translate their dominance to a goal before the break as the ball continued to travel across the hosts’ penalty area.
Zahavi teed-up Guiagon on the edge of the area before the Ivorian’s low powerful drive was caught by Gerafi in what proved to be the final action of the first period.
Second Half
With no changes to either side after the interval, a fireworks display from the away end in the 47th minute stopped the game for 5 minutes. AZfter all the smoke cleared and play was resumed, Maccabi continued to press Ashdod trying to carve an opening.
Ivic made his first change after the hour mark as Oscar Gloukh came in for Peretz while Matan Hozez replaced Guiagon in the 67th minute. Six minutes after their introduction, Hozez was let down by his first touch as he tried meeting Davidzada’s cross from the left and as Ashdod’s defence struggled to clear the danger, Gloukh fired the loose ball high over the crossbar. Two minutes later, Ashdod’s substitute Adir Levy forced Peretz to dive to his right and save a dangerous low drive which Maccabi’s keeper managed to turn for a corner.
As the clock kept ticking, Enric Saborit tried his luck with a long range effort in the 80th minute only to be denied by the alerted Gerafi. Ashdod’s keeper pulled a stunning save in the 87th minute this time to keep out Hozez’s close range effort following a pinpoint Saborit square ball. In a last throw of the dice Ivic made a triple change on 88 as Derrick Lukassen, Joris van Overeem and Dan Biton came in for Yeini, Dan Glazer, and Kanichowsky. In their first touch of the ball Biton whipped in a free kick which reached Lukassen who managed to push the ball in off the post and past Gerafi. But Lukassen’s celebrations were short-lived as the goal was disallowed by referee Orel Grinfeld who was called to review the incident by VAR.
Despite 8 minutes of added time Ashdod managed to hang on as the hosts celebrated the point at the final whistle. The visitors on the other hand dropped points for the first time this season as the point gained took Maccabi’s tally to 10 points from a possible 12 and a home match against Beitar Jerusalem on September 17th.
