Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s lost to Beitar Jerusalem on a single first-half goal, ending their campaign in this season's Under-19 State Cup competition
On the last Saturday of 2013 the Under-19 squad, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar", abandoned their league duties for a round four Under-19 State Cup tie, the first round that sees the top teams in the Under-19 Premier League enter the competition. They were drawn for a tricky away encounter with fellow pacesetters Beitar Jerusalem and the home side started out more briskly, wasting no more than two minutes before testing Maccabi keeper Sahar Hason, who succeeded in saving a shot by Beitar's Avishai Cohen at full stretch. Ten minutes later even Hason's best efforts were of no avail. Beitar's Bar Shalom latched on to a ball on the edge of the area and his shot high into the Maccabi net gave his side an early 1-0 advantage. The home side continued to test the Maccabi keeper, who withstood a header by David Kaltunis, while at the other end striker Dor Jan created Maccabi's first real chance of the game. Until the half Maccabi dominated possession but apart from a second effort by Dor Jan, they rarely looked like scoring.
After the restart, "Shachar" head coach Ziv Arie made a number of changes, bringing on striker Yonatan Cohen who almost immediately curled a shot that grazed the Beitar goalpost. Maccabi continued to look for an equaliser that would keep them in the Under-19 State Cup competition but a further effort by Dor Jan in the 65th minute also failed to get by Beitar keeper Stav Shoshan. In the dying moments of the match midfielder Dan Glazer made Maccabi's last attempt to get on level terms when he latched on to a clearance and shot just over the crossbar. Maccabi kept up the pressure until the final whistle, which unfortunately for them marked the end of their road in the Cup competition in their first attempt to advance.
Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will hope to recover quickly from their disappointment when they play away to Hapoel Haifa next Saturday in matchweek 13 of the Under-19 Premier League.
