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MTA midfielder Gonzalo Garcia's two first half goals were cancelled out just after the restart by Haifa defender Dekel Keinan and midfielder Hen Ezra

Exactly one week after the champagne corks began to pop at the Maccabi Tel Aviv title celebrations, the newly crowned champions travelled northward to face their principle rivals for that title, Maccabi Haifa. It's been almost a decade since the Tel Aviv branch of the Maccabi family last emerged victorious at Haifa's Kiryat Eliezer stadium and 1,800 MTA fans arrived in the port city in the hope of seeing their club's fortunes change. And the first change they were treated to was in the starting eleven: forward Gael Margulies and midfielders Hasan Abu Zaid and Gonzalo Garcia were all featured in a line-up designed to rest some of the more regular starters. And it was one of those substitutions, the Uruguayan born Garcia, who provided the brace of goals that sent Maccabi Tel Aviv to the dressing room at half time with a 2-0 lead. But that lead was destined to last but ten minutes after the restart as hosts Maccabi Haifa drew level 2-2 courtesy of goals from Dekel Keinan and Hen Ezra. And so it remained till the final whistle, extending Maccabi Tel Aviv's run without a victory at Kiryat Eliezer to nine seasons.

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The first minutes of the match saw three of the members of Maccabi Tel Aviv's midfield, Hasan Abu Zaid, Maharan Radi and Gal Alberman, have good chances on goal. The fourth and most forward member, Gonzalo Garcia, entered the fray only halfway through the first half with a header that looked to have crossed the line before being deflected by Haifa's veteran midfielder Gustavo Boccoli, who saw red for handling the ball in the area. Justice, though, was done in the end as Garcia himself successfully took the spot kick that gave him the goal at first denied (his third in the league this season) and Maccabi Tel Aviv a 0-1 lead. Garcia continued his incisive play and just before the half time whistle completed his brace with an accurate long range effort that hit the upright and careened into the opposition net.

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Two minutes after the restart Maccabi Tel Aviv once again hit the woodwork but this time from the wrong side, as Maharan Radi's shot hit teammate Roberto Colautti. Five minutes later Maccabi Haifa pulled one back courtesy of Dekel Keinan, who headed in from close range. And with the Tel Aviv defence still recovering from conceding the first goal, they found themselves fishing the equaliser out of their own goal as Haifa's Hen Ezra struck hard and accurately from distance to find the Tel Aviv net once again. After that the Green storm abated and Tel Aviv returned to action, with defenders Omer Vered and Eitan Tibi coming close to getting their side's third. The match continued at a hectic pace with moments at both ends, but at the final the whistle the two clubs had to settle with sharing the points at two goals each.

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This draw means that Maccabi Tel Aviv have yet to lose a play-off match with just three more games left to the season. The first of those will be this Saturday at Bloomfield Stadium (5 P.M.) when they host Hapoel Kiryat Shmona