Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s opened the second round of national Under-19 Premier League matches on the right foot with a convincing 0-4 victory over Hapoel Ra'anana, courtesy of a brace by Dor Jan and individual goals by Yonatan Cohen and Eliel Peretz
After closing off this season's first round of national Under-19 Premier League matches with an away victory against Hapoel Beer Sheva, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" set out on Saturday looking for a second consecutive win on the road. This time the opponent was Hapoel Ra'anana, whom Maccabi defeated 3-1 at home in the first match of the 2013/14 Under-19 Premier League season. And it was head coach Ziv Arie's lads who indeed opened the match more brightly and saw two chances by midfielders Daniel Gretz and Matan Hozez saved by Ra'anana keeper Omri Glazer before the matchclock showed seven minutes. Ten minutes later, Maccabi keeper Sahar Hason was kept alert as well as he went off his line to save from Ra'anana's Ben Mizan. The first goal was finally scored just after the half hour mark when "Shachar" striker Yonatan Cohen struck from outside the area for his second goal in as many matches after scoring the equaliser last week in Beer Sheva.
After the restart it was Yonatan Cohen once again who came close to scoring his and his team's second, but Omri Glazer parried his effort. "Shachar", however, continued their assault on the Ra'anana goal and five minutes past the hour mark substitute fullback Guy Aviv broke down the right and sent an accurate cross to midfielder Eliel Peretz who put the ball in the opposition net for Maccabi's second of the match. Three minutes later Maccabi striker Dor Jan saw an effort cleared off the line but in the following attack scored from outside the area with the help of a deflection off a Ra'anana defender to put "Shachar" ahead 0-3.
Ten minutes from time Eliel Peretz came close to scoring his second but was frustrated by the woodwork. More fortunate was team captain Dor Jan, who found the ball at his feet after fellow striker Amit Farhi just failed to round the Ra'anana keeper and dinked into the net his second goal on the day and his ninth of the season. Before the ref's whistle, Jan would have three more headed attempts at achieving a hat-trick foiled, but Maccabi's convincing 0-4 victory sent them to the fourth spot in the national Under-19 Premier League table.
Next week, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will return to the Kiryat Shalom training ground for an intriguing home tie against league leaders Maccabi Haifa.
