Striker Raz Yitzhak's maiden season goal sufficed to hand Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s a 1-0 victory over Hapoel Rishon Lezion
After a three week re-seeding break, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" returned to league duties in matchweek 8 of the national Under-19 Premier League this Saturday by hosting their counterparts from Hapoel Rishon Lezion at the Kiryat Shalom training ground. The Maccabi side were looking to recover from their last outing before the break, a loss at Ironi Kiryat Shmona, and from the very start of the match the hosts indicated they were headed in the right direction. Head coach Ziv Arie's lads dominated possession and rarely missed an opportunity to threaten the goal of the Rishon keeper Ofir Carso. After some off-target attempts by forward Raz Itzhak and midfielder Eliel Peretz, the latter came closest in the first half hour, but Carso managed to parry his close-range effort. "Shachar" redirected their intentions and with eight minutes remaining in the first half Itzhak rose to meet a long ball down the right flank by midfielder Matan Hozaz and headed in to put his side ahead 1-0. For Itzhak, who just turned sixteen this week, it was his maiden goal for "Shachar" after starting the season with the Under-17s. A minute later, provider Hozaz tried his luck as goalscorer, but his curled effort was deflected by Carso thus denying Hozaz's attempt to double the Maccabi advantage.
After the restart, Maccabi continued to dominate proceedings and defended admirably as well, preventing their rivals from creating chances in front of Maccabi keeper Sahar Hason's goal. Maccabi midfielder Dor Peretz came very close but an onrushing Carso managed to deflect his shot. At the other end the visitors managed one chance but Hason saw the danger and kept Rishon's Yaron Avliev from getting his shot into the net. After a three-pronged Maccabi effort ended in Eliel Peretz missing a golden opportunity, substitute striker Dor Jan tried his luck but his powerful shot hit the woodwork. After a good long-range effort by another substitute, midfielder Shaked Azulay, Jan, who started his army training this week, had another go towards the end of the match but his shot sailed over the net leaving the final score at 1-0 in "Shachar"'s favour.
With thirteen points, Maccabi's Under-19s have now leap-frogged Hapoel Rishon Lezion in the table and will head off next week to face Bnei Yehuda away with an eye on increasing that total.
