Goals by Rade Prica, Carlos Garcia and Barak Itzhaki handed Maccabi Tel Aviv an important 3-1 victory over Hapoel Beer Sheva to open up a six-point lead at the top of the Israeli Premier League table
Last night's "match of the season" between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Beer Sheva turned out to be just that, as league leaders Maccabi defeated their second-placed rivals Hapoel Beer Sheva 3-1 in front of a sell-out crowd at Bloomfield Stadium. And the 12,000 Maccabi supporters among them could not have dreamt of a better start to the match. With less than three minutes on the matchclock, a Dor Micha cross into the area was headed by a Beer Sheva defender back towards striker Rade Prica, who volleyed the ball exquisitely past Beer Sheva's Nigerian goalkeeper Augustine Ejide to give his side an early 1-0 advantage. For Prica it was his ninth league goal of the season. Five minutes later Maccabi were handed a golden opportunity to double their lead when Beer Sheva midfielder Ben Algrabli brought Rade Prica down in the area, and saw red for his endeavours. But midfielder Eran Zahavi's effort to wrong-foot Ejide from the spot proved too weak and the agile keeper managed to get a hand on it.
The half continued at a feverish pace, with even Maccabi defender Eytan Tibi coming close with a long-range effort that narrowly went wide. But seven minutes from the break, ten-man Beer Sheva equalised against the run of play with an absolute stunner from long range by Dutch striker Glynor Plet into the upper right corner of the net that left Maccabi keeper Juan Pablo completely helpless. But Maccabi were not content to let matters rest and just before the half-time clock ran down they re-established their lead. Carlos Garcia's first effort to head in an Eran Zahavi corner was blocked by Ejide but the alert defender mastered the deflection and struck past the keeper to put his side 2-1 up at the break. After waiting a year and a half for his first goal for Maccabi, the Spanish defender has now scored his second in just three matches.
Ten minutes after the restart yet another Maccabi defender, Yoav Ziv, came close but Ejide parried his effort. Maccabi continued to dominate proceedings and with 66 minutes on the clock they succeeded in widening their winning margin, once again from a corner. Eran Zahavi's ball was headed by a Beer Sheva defender to the far side of the area to an unmarked Barak Itzhaki and the substitute forward struck it past an outstretched Ejide into to lower right-hand corner of the net. A minute later saw another Maccabi substitution, and a maiden appearance for new signing striker Barak Badash, who joined the club in the January transfer window. But it was Maccabi's third substitution, winger Tal Ben Haim, who came closest to adding a fourth goal to Maccabi's tally just three minutes from time.
Maccabi held on to their 3-1 lead until referee Menashe Mashiah blew the final whistle, widening their lead at the top of the league table to six points over Hapoel Beer Sheva and maintaining their excellent home record, having dropped just two points at Bloomfield Stadium since the beginning of the season. Next Saturday at 7.30pm Maccabi will travel to HaMoshava Stadium to face Maccabi Petach Tikva in matchweek 22 of the Israeli Premier ("Winner") League.
