First Half
Four minutes from the start a Yonatan Cohen direct corner seemed to have beaten Arik Yanko before the Petah Tikva hooked the ball out of his goal. But referee Gal Leibovic and VAR didn’t award a goal. Three minutes later a mistake in Maccabi’s defense allowed Eliel Abada to charge forward but his attempt of a shot was easily collected by Daniel Tenenbaum.
Naor Sabag limped out injured on 14 and was replaced at Petah Tikva by Mohamad Sarsur.
A corner in the 18th minute was cleared by Petah Tikva’s defense into the path of Shahar Piven outside the area. The defender hit it first time with the outside of his right boot, but as the ball was sailing into the top corner Yanko was at full stretch as he pulled a stunning save to deny Maccabi the opener.
Maccabi’s pressure continued in the 26th minute as Aleksandar Pesic switched sides to Cohen who beat two defenders before his shot was blocked by Marcus Diniz. A minute later Pesic and Cohen combined once again, as the Serbian striker who raced clear through teed-up Cohen whose initial shot was blocked before Pesic rattled the crossbar with the rebound. At the opposite end and against the run of play Petah Tikva found the back of Maccabi’s net but the goal was disallowed for offside. The action continued at both ends as Tenenbaum saved with his feet from Abada who raced clear through on the half hour mark.
Yanko stretched himself once again this time to deny Tal Ben Chaim who curled a shot with his left which threatened to creep innat the far post. Yanko was in the thick of things once again, this time to deny Dor Pertez’s shot in the 42nd minute.
Dan Glazer pulled a last gasp tackle a minute later to block Abada’s close range effort as a goal at either end seemed like a matter of time. But Leibovic’s halftime whistle meant that goals will probably be scored in the second half.
Second Half
Van Leeuwen made one change at halftime as Glazer made way for Eden Kartzev at the restart.
Three minutes later Petah Tikva’s defense struggled to deal with a Luis Hernandez long throw in which fell to Kartzev whose volley was caught by Yanko.
In the 50th minute however, Yanko punched out a Piven cross into the path of Kartzev who beat the Petah Tikva keeper with a powerful right foot shot from 25 meters.
Diniz limped off at Petah Tikva and was replaced by Daniel Flesher on 63 while Van Leeuwen made his second change two minutes later as Eylon Almog came in for Ben Chaim at Maccabi.
In the 75th minute Tenenbaum needed a double save to keep out Abada’s shot from inside the area. Abada flashed a shot over Tenenbaum’s crossbar in the 88th minute before Avi Rikan and Etey Shechter were introduced for the final two minutes replacing both Golasa and Cohen.
