Maccabi Tel Aviv registered a first-ever victory at their new home at Bloomfield on Saturday when they beat Maccabi Haifa 1-0 in a much-anticipated clash between two leading league title contenders.
Haifa’s Terrence Sainsbury deflected the ball into his own net in the 37th minute after a corner by Maccabi Tel Aviv was headed in the direction of the goalmouth by Nick Blackman. It was an unfortunate error by the Australian defender and the ball crept in by Haifa goalkeeper Guy Haimov’s left upright and he was unable to keep it out. 
Haimov was injured in a clash of heads with teammate Iyad Habashi and play was stopped for seven minutes while the goalkeeper was treated but he continued to play and it’s difficult to say whether the knock he took had an effect on his ability to stop the own-goal.
Neither team displayed the free-flowing football that they are capable of playing but the hosts were nevertheless the stronger team and were worthy of the three points. Maccabi Haifa failed to find a constant rhythm and hardly threatened Daniel Tannenbaum’s goal. 
Haifa had came into the match with a 100 percent record – three wins in their previous three league outings – while Tel Aviv had registered two wins and a draw. They have yet to concede a goal in any of their four fixtures in the TASE Premier League.
Tel Aviv should have scored at least one more goal and narrowly missed out on enrapturing the majority of the 26,234 crowd when in the second half, Dor Micha struck a powerful shot that deflected off the Haifa post. 
Haimov took a second knock to the head later and had to be substituted by newcomer Josh Cohen, who held his own between the Haifa posts.
Maccabi Tel Aviv lineup: Daniel Tannenbaum, Andre Jerladsh, Eitan Tibi, Jair Amador, Shahar Pivan, Enrique Pavorit, Dan Glazer, Dor Peretz, Dor Micha (Avi Rikan, 68), Chico Ofuedo (Matan Hozez, 87), Nick Blackman (Etey Shechter, 57)
