Maccabi suffered a painful blow in the race for the league title after losing 2-0 away to Kiryat Shmona. Roi Kehat and Mohammed Shaker scored the goals against Maccabi who were reduced to 10 men from the 38th minute following the dismissal of Eytan Tibi for two bookable offences.

Pre Match

For the visit to Kiryat Shmona Maccabi’s coach Patrick van Leeuwen made several changes from the side that beat Ashdod in the State Cup in midweek.

Daniel Tenenbaum in goal and Eytan Tibi at centre back were the only members of the defense to keep their place as Matan Baltaxa was named as the second central defender. Maor Kandil on the right and Ofir Davidzada on the left were the two full-backs who completed the back-four giving Enric Saboirit and Andre Geraldes a much needed rest. Avi Rikan stepped-in for Eden Kartzev to join Dan Glazer and Dor Peretz as the midfield trio. Upfront, Aleksandar Pesic replaced Nick Blackman to lead the attack with Eduardo Gurrero and Tal Ben Chaim in support on both wings.

First Half

Maccabi began the match with pressure on Kiryat Shmona that almost resulted in a goal in the opening five minutes. What began as an Eduardo Gurrero counter attack down the right flank in the 4th minute, resulted with an Avi Rikan shot that rolled across the face of goal.

Eytan Tibi was the first player to get booked by referee David Fuxman as early as the eighth minute as the veteran central defender was penalized for a clumsy challenge on Ofir Mizrahi. The resulting free kick caught Maccabi’s defense flat, but luckily both Lucio and Roi Kehat failed to connect onto the dangerous cross.

Rikan came close to draw first blood in the 14th minute as Tal Ben Chaim’s cut-back left him unmarked on the edge of the area, but the 32-year-old midfielder blasted his shot high over the crossbar. Two minutes later Rikan got his long range volley on target, but Kiryat Shmona’s keeper Dziugas Bartkus collected with ease.

Rikan was handed another excellent chance to score on 24 after being teed-up, this time by Aleksandar Pesic, but once again his shot was equaled by Bartkus. A minute after the half hour mark Kiryat Shmona came close to take the lead as a Mohammed Shaker shot was deflected by Lucio towards goal before Tenenbaum was forced to react well and collect.

In the 38th minute however, Maccabi were left with 10 men after Eytan Tibi was sent off for two bookable offenses following a mistimed tackle on Yoav Hoffmeister inside the center circle.

On the stroke of halftime Tenenbaum stretched himself to deny Shaker’s powerful drive as he pushed the ball out for a corner. With seconds left before the halftime whistle was blown, Kiryat Shmona took the lead as Roi Kehat rose high to convert the resulting Saikou Touray’s corner beyond the reach of Tenebaum.

Second Half

With his team trailing by a goal and down to 10 men, Van Leeuwen made a change at halftime as Sheran Yeini replaced Ben Chaim for the restart.

Maccabi almost equalized two minutes later in what would have been a carbon copy goal to the one they conceded earlier but Bartkus managed to catch Dor Peretz’s header following Rikan’s corner.

Van Leeuwen made a second change on the hour mark as Yonatan Cohen replaced Rikan to add more firepower. Five minutes after his introduction, Cohen, made his mark as he blasted a right foot shot that beat Bartkus but rattled the post. In the 67th minute Pesic must have thought he managed to equalize as Gurrero’s cut-back found him at the far post. But Kehat made a last gasp sliding tackle to deflect the Serbian striker’s shot over the crossbar.

While Maccabi tried desperately to level the score, Shaker flashed a shot across the face of Tenenbaum’s goal on 72. Gurrero forced Bartkus to dive and save his powerful right foot shot two minutes later before Peretz sent a header which was equaled by the Lithuanian keeper within a minute.

Despite the numerical disadvantage Maccabi kept on pushing forward as Cohen shot high and over in the 78th minute. Shahar Piven and Andre Geraldes replaced Pesic and Maor Kandil on 82 as Van Leeuwen made a double change for the final 8 minutes.

In a last role of the dice Van Leeuwen made his fifth and final substitution Etey Shechter came in for the tired Peretz for the final four minutes. In the 90th minute, Matan Baktaxa who moments earlier sent a header over the crossbar, flicked a header to the far post only to see Geraldes miss his attempt to slide the ball home from point blank range.

Inside injury time Kiryat Shmona exploited the fact Tenenbaum came out for a corner to score from a counter attack as Shaker blasted a long range effort into the open goal to seal the win at 2-0.