Second half goals from Dor Peretz, Aleksandar Pesic, Eylon Almog and Yonatan Cohen earned Maccabi a 4-0 victory over Hapoel in the first Tel Aviv derby of the season. The victory takes Maccabi to 23 points from 13 matches and at the end of the first round climb tonight second in the table, eight points behind the leaders.
First Half
It took Maccabi five minutes to launch their first serious attack as Dan Glazer picked the ball near the halfway line, found Aleksandar Pesic who sent Yonatan Cohen down the left flank. Cohen managed to get the first touch before being brought down by Iad Abu Abid who was consequently booked. Hapoel struggled to deal with the resulting free kick which fell to Tal Ben Chaim whose shot was blocked by Siyanda Xulu.
Ben Chaim looked lively in the 10th minute as he charged from the halfway line, cut inside and from the edge of the unleashed a left foot low drive which went wide of the post. Shahar Hirsh had a shot from the edge of the area which Daniel Tenenbaum collected with ease on 13.
At the opposite end Ben Chaim continued to get closer as he skipped past two defenders in the 16th minute before his shot hit the side netting. A minute later, Ben Chaim must have thought he registered an assist as Eyal Golasa sent him wide with a clever flick. The winger curled in a perfect cross which found Pesic unmarked only to see the Serbian striker direct his header wide.
In the 27th minute Pesic found himself on the end of another Ben Chaim cross, but this time round the header was directed straight at Yigal Becker. A well drilled free kick in the 34th minute resulted with the ball reaching Dor Peretz unmarked deep inside Hapoel’s penalty box. But the midfielder’s shot was blocked by an Hapoel defender before it could reach Becker in goal.
Second Half
While Hapoel’s coach introduced Osher Davida for Hirsh at halftime, Maccabi’s line-up remained unchanged at the restart. Within a minute Pesic sent Ben Chaim deep before Deni Grupper was booked for bringing him down.
In the 49th minute a corner fell to Dor Peretz whose second attempt rolled wide of the post. Peretz teed up Eyal Golsa in the 56th minute but the midfielder’s shot from outside the area rocketed over the crossbar.
In the 58th minute Sheran Yeini’s sent a delicate chip over Hapoel’s defense which Pesic brought down before his shot was squandered by the advancing keeper. The deadlock was finally broken right on the hour mark as Eytan Tobi knocked down Cohen’s corner before Peretz slotted the ball past Becker to make it 1-0.
Pesic doubled the lead within a minute as Hapoel struggled to clear the ball out of their own box and from the pressure Maccabi’s forwards put them under, Pesic deflected the ball home. 2-0 Maccabi.
Van Leeuwen made a double change in the 67th minute as Avi Rikan and Eylon Almog replaced Glazer and Ben Chaim. Eylon Almog scored Maccabi’s third in the 73rd minute as Tibi sent Cohen racing down the left flank before Almog tapped the square ball home from close range. 3-0 Maccabi.
Peretz and Pesic bowed out to a standing ovation from the Maccabi bench in the 77th minute as they were replaced by Dan Biton and Itay Shechter.
Van Leeuwen made his fifth and final substitution as Eden Kartzev replaced Golasa on 84 for the final six minutes. Inside injury time Cohen completed the score as Biton released him with a clever back-heal flick before his shot beat Becker to seal the score at 4-0.
