Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, the club’s under-19 side, overcame Beitar Tubruk in wintry conditions in Netanya on Saturday and registered a 1-0 victory in the 15th round of the league that ended the first phase. The winner was scored by Ronen Hanchis, who headed home in the 18th minute from an excellent pass by Shai Balahssen.

U17 beat hosts Beitar Jerusalem 2-0 at Bayit Vagan and the result has seen them climb to second place in the standings after 14 rounds of matches with the gap from the top spot now down to two points. Ariel Belson and Dor Turgeman scored for Maccabi in the first half.

Hapoel Tel Aviv emerged as 2-1 winners over U16 in the Derby clash at Hapoel’s Wolfson training ground in the 16th round of action. Ofek Sasson put Maccabi ahead, but Hapoel came back with two of their own to win.

U15 returned from Kiryat Gat with a 5-0 victory in the 13th round of action in their division. It was a second big margin away victory for Maccabi’s boys that has them fourth in their division. Osher Bruchim scored a hat trick and Agam Hanoun got the other two goals.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, the club’s under-19 side, overcame Beitar Tubruk in wintry conditions in Netanya on Saturday and registered a 1-0 victory in the 15th round of the league that ended the first phase.

The winner was scored by Ronen Hanchis, who headed home in the 18th minute from an excellent pass by Shai Balahssen.

Despite the difficult conditions, both sides had several chances to score throughout the match and most were in favour of Maccabi, particularly in the second half.

Maccabi’s lineup: Ben Mousayof, Guy Mizrahi, Mikel Mor, Itay Ben Hemo, Rotem Yatzkar, (Omer Itzhaki, 80), Afek Sapir Navot, Shai Balahssen, (Yalli Lazar, 77), Asaf Hershko, (Niv Berkovitz, 38), Tal Torgeman, (Or Roizman, 62), Parfait Guiagon, Ronen Hanchis (Shaked Navon, 90)

Beitar Tubruk v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar”, Netanya 11:00.
Maccabi Tel Aviv go into the away clash in third place in the standings against Tubruk, who are ninth and Eliezer Ben Aharon’s boys will be looking to return to winning ways after the goalless draw in the Tel Aviv Derby last week.

Beitar Jerusalem v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded”, Bayit Vagan, Jerusalem 10:30.
U17 face another challenging encounter in the 14th round of action following their 1-1 home draw with division leaders Maccabi Haifa last week. The third-placed team will be away in Jerusalem against Beitar, who are 11th in the standings and will look for a morale-boosting win to keep close to Haifa.

Hapoel Tel Aviv v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs”, Wolfson training ground, 09:00.
This is an intriguing clash between second and first place in the standings and Assi Haber’s boys will desperately be looking to maintain Maccabi’s grip on the division lead. The teams are separated only by goal difference.

Ironi Kiryat Gat v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad”, Kiryat Gat 10:00.
Boys C are in fourth place in their division and will look to maintain their own positive momentum against bottom-placed Kiryat Gat who have yet to post a win after 13 outings.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shachar” and traditional arch-rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv shared the spoils in a sodden goalless youth Derby in Ness Ziona and it was a mixed bag of results for the other Academy teams.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar” 0, Hapoel Tel Aviv 0: Neither Maccabi, who began in third place in the standings, or Hapoel, one place above them were able to capitalise on a number of chances that came their way as rain hampered play throughout and parity in the standings between the two clubs was maintained but the gap from Maccabi Haifa at the top is now eight points. Maccabi take on Beitar Tubruk in their next fixture.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded” 1, Maccabi Haifa 1: U17 good run of results was held up in the 13th round of action against the division leaders who went ahead in the 55th minute but Aner Oshmandi equalised on the hour. Maccabi remain third in the standings, four points behind pace-setters Haifa.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs” 1, Maccabi Petah Tikva 2: U16 run of nine consecutive victories came to an end in the 16th round of action. Petah Tikva took the lead in the 48th minute and Oscar Gloch equalised in the 75th but the visitors regained the advantage five minutes later and Petah Tikva held on for the win. Despite the defeat, Maccabi remain at the top of the division.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad” 5, Maccabi Herzliya 3: U15 followed up their good midweek win over Hapoel Tel Aviv with another convincing result over Maccabi Herzliya in the 12th round of action and they remain in fourth place in their division. Tom Bloch with a hat trick and Nikita Alxienko and Osher Bruchim scored for the winners.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shahar,” the club’s under-19 youth team, hosted traditional arch-rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv in the city derby on a rainy Saturday in Ness Ziona.

It was a clash between Maccabi in third place and Hapoel, in second and was fairly evenly matched throughout, although neither side were sharp enough to convert any of the few chances to score and the inclement weather played its own part and hampered the accuracy of play.

Maccabi’s lineup: Ben Musayof, Guy Itzhak, Hadar Mor Yosef, Itay Ben Hemo, Rotem Yatzkar (Omer Itzhaki, 45), Niv Berkovitz, Shay Balahssen, (Yalli Lazar, 74), Asaf Hershko, (Afek Sapir Navot, 88), Tal Torgeman (Or Roizman, 55), Parfait Guiagon, Ronen Hanchis (Shaked Navon, 86).

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shachar” continued to display fine form on Saturday in the national youth (under-19) league and notched a convincing 3-2 victory when they hosted Hapoel Nof Hagalil at their home ground in Ness Ziona.

Asaf Hershko, Parfait Guiagon and Nadav Nidam scored for Maccabi in the first half, which ended 3-1. Nof Hagalil managed a very late second goal but it was never going to be enough to threaten the dominant hosts.

Eliezer Ben Aharon’s team are in third place in their division, now three points behind leaders Maccabi Haifa.

Maccabi Petah Tikva 1, Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded” 5: U17 followed their convincing Derby victory last week with another great win on Saturday. Dor Turgeman and Aner Oshmandi, with two goals each, and Mohammed Abu Ayash scored for Maccabi, who are in third place in their division, four points off the pace.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs” 3, Maccabi Haifa 1: U16 notched another important win over their Haifa rivals and have now increased their run of victories to nine as they maintain their place atop the standings after 15 rounds. Yakir Zilberman with two, and Or Nathan scored for the winners.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad” 2, Bnei Yehuda 2: U15 remain in fourth place in their division after the draw with their opponents in the small city derby. Agam Hanoun scored the goals for Maccabi.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Shachar” continued to display fine form on Saturday in the national youth (under-19) league and notched a convincing victory when they hosted Hapoel Nof Hagalil at their home ground in Ness Ziona.

Maccabi dominated from the opening whistle and had several chances to score in the early stages before they finally got on the score sheet in the 23rd minute when Itai Ben Hemo sent a ball that cut through the opposition’s defence to Asaf Hershko, who with only the goalkeeper to beat, made no mistake and slotted in for the first goal.

Only three minutes had passed and Maccabi doubled the score when Parfait Guiagon
struck powerfully from outside the area to find the net again.

But even though Nof Hagalil were on the back foot, they weren’t going to give up without a fight and were back in contention in the 38th minute when Rian Ashmoz headed in from a corner.

That goal appeared to spur Maccabi’s players once more as the first half was coming to a close and Nadav Nidam scored the third goal in the 42nd minute from the penalty spot after Ronen Hanchis was brought down in the area by a Nof Hagalil player.

The momentum remained with Maccabi in the second half and they created several more chances, although none found the target.

The visitors got their second consolation goal three minutes from the end when Yarin Hatukai beat Ben Musayof in the Maccabi goal with an excellent curling shot.

Maccabi’s lineup: Ben Musayof, Hadar Mor Yosef, (Yalli Lazar, 88), Omer Itzhaki, Itai Ben Hamo, Shachar Rosen (Mikel Mor, 35), Nadav Nidam (Afek Sapir Navot, 70), Omri Ram, Asaf Hershko (Niv Berkovitz, 70), Tal Torgeman (Or Roizman, 59), Parfait Guiagon, Ronen Hanchis.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s youth team return to league action on Saturday after a two-week international break and will host Nof Hagalil at their home ground in Ness Ziona at noon.

Eliezer Ben Aharon’s charges, who are unbeaten, lie third in the youth league table and look to be the favourites against Nof Hagalil, who are 14th in the division with only three wins after 12 rounds of play.

Maccabi Petah Tikva v. Maccabi Tel Aviv “Oded”, 14:30: Boys A will be brimming with confidence after winning the Derby last week and like the youth team, lie third in their division, three points ahead and three places ahead of their hosts.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eli Fuchs” v. Maccabi Haifa: Boys B lie atop their division and with eight consecutive wins will be confident going into their match against Haifa, who are third in the division. The game will be played at Kiryat Shalom, kickoff at 10:30.

Maccabi Tel Aviv “Eldad” v. Bnei Yehuda: Boys C host their opponents in the small city derby in the 10th round of action. They lie fourth in their division, while Bnei Yehuda are seventh. The match will be played at Kiryat Shalom, kickoff at 8.30.