MTA beat Bnei Sakhnin 4-1 in the season final. Zahav's hat-trick makes him league's top goalscorer
Maccabi Tel Aviv finished off their excellent 2013/14 Israeli Premier League season with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Bnei Sakhnin. Defender Yoav Ziv opened the scoring with just three minutes on the matchclock and midfielder Eran Zahavi did the rest, netting a hat-trick that pushed him three past Hapoel Tel Aviv's Omar Damari to capture the honours as the league's top goalscorer of the 2013/14 season. With 29, Zahavi also becomes Maccabi's top single season goalscorer, surpassing Shaya Glazer who netted 27 goals in the 1952/53 season. He also takes his place as the second highest top division single season goalscorer behind Nissim Elimelech, who scored 30 goals for Beitar Tel Aviv in the 1954/55 maiden season of Israel's "Liga Le'umit".
With less than four minutes gone, Maccabi Tel Aviv carried on at Bloomfield Stadium where they had left off at Thursday's celebrations of their 21st all-time Premier League title. A Maccabi throw in from the right was headed into the area for Eran Zahavi, whose shot was blocked by Sakhnin keeper Ahmad Shebel. But the deflection went no further than Yoav Ziv whose first goal of the season gave the home side an early 1-0 lead. Just past the ten-minute mark Zahavi tried his luck again but this time Shebel succeeded in keeping his effort out of the net altogether. Six minutes later, however, Shebel was less lucky as he fumbled a back pass from his own defence allowing Zahavi to get past him from a difficult angle. 2-0 to Maccabi and goal number 27 to the superlative midfielder. Three minutes later Zahavi was unlucky to hit the woodwork with an effort from inside the area, but just under the half hour mark he was on the scoresheet yet again, beating the Sakhnin offside trap with a perfectly timed pass by fellow midfielder Dan Einbinder and striking over the head of an onrushing Shebel to put Maccabi three goals to the good with goal number 28. Three minutes later the so far lacklustre visitors pulled one back courtesy of striker Mohammed Kalibat, but the Maccabi onslaught continued as the ever active Dan Einbinder broke into the Sakhnin area and missed the goal by a whisker. Still, Maccabi took a commanding 3-1 lead off the pitch at half time.
The second half was a more cautious affair, but Eran Zahavi's goalscoring instincts were far from being dulled altogether. In two short minutes a quarter of an hour from time he saw two powerful efforts saved by Ahmad Shebel. But Zahavi was by no means alone in placing the Sakhnin net under siege. Young midfielder Omri Altman's shot from twenty metres out grazed the crossbar and two minutes later Shebel was forced into an athletic double save from shots by midfielder Mahran Radi and substitute striker Gael Margulies. At the other end Sakhnin striker Ahmed Kasoum broke in from the right and forced a save from Maccabi keeper Barak Levy, who slammed his shot off the woodwork. Three minutes from time the young Margulies was brought down in the area and Eran Zahavi stepped up to the spot to complete his hat-trick, goal number four for Maccabi and 29 for Eran Zahavi, now officially the2013/14 season and Maccabi all-time top one-season goalscorer. And Maccabi Tel Aviv had crowned their unforgettable 2013/14 season with an emphatic 4-1 victory.
At half time all the teams of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth Division also marked a successful and trophy-laden season with a traditional parade around Bloomfield Stadium,
