Smiles, disappointments but in particular lots of goals in yet another action-packed Youth Division weekend
The Under-19s were not the only Maccabi Tel Aviv Youth division team to leave the pitch grinning on Saturday. The Under-17s also had something to smile about after they beat a difficult Bnei Sakhnin team 1-3 away to hold on to the top spot in the league. Omer Lakao opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season and Roy Ronen followed with an additional two to bring his season total to eight. In between Roy Ronen's brace Bnei Sakhnin managed to pull one back but his second three minutes later put an end to the story. Maccabi Tel Aviv "Oded" have yet to lose a match this season and now have ten wins and two draws after twelve season encounters that leave them top of the national U17 Premier League.
Another Maccabi Youth team perched atop their league are the Under-16s, despite dropping their first points in eleven encounters after a 2-2 draw at the Wolfson training ground in the first Tel Aviv derby of the 2014/15 season. Head coach Shlomi Mitelka's charges will be disappointed in having relinquished a two-goal half-time advantage, acquired through the efforts of Eden Kartsev and Guy Dahan, allowing their opponents to pull both goals back in the latter stages of the match.
Maccabi Tel Aviv "Eldad', the club's Under-15 Team 1, are still racking up perfect numbers after eight league outings in the nationwide U15 League Central District, and this weekend head coach Eyal Tzahi's youngsters did it in exquisite style. They dispatched their rivals Beitar Tel Aviv Ramle with impunity, scoring eight goals and conceding none. Idan Zioni scored a hat-trick, Tal Daon added a brace and Amit Mordehaev, Roy Harush and Rotem Ziv all contributed individual efforts to the 0-8 rout. Meanwhile their Team 2 age-mates were forced to settle for a draw in a tensely fought encounter with northern namesakes Maccabi Haifa at Kiryat Shalom training ground. Head coach Erez Belfer's squad held on to a slender 1-0 lead provided by Yam Ben Yehuda until five minutes from time, but a late Haifa goal resulted in a 1-1 stand-off.
Also at Kiryat Shalom, the Under-14 Team South were engaged in a far more goal-filled affair which unfortunately ended with head coach Ori David's youngsters on the wrong end of the equation. David Degu, Gil Ben Shlush and Tal Binyamin Yagudaev all scored for the home side but opponents Ashdod FC conjured up four in reply to triumph 3-4. By sheer coincidence, head coach Nissim Dvash's Under-14 Team North finished their topsy-turvy home encounter against Hapoel Haifa with an almost identical scoreline, only in their case it was 4-3, representing their fourth league victory of the season. Ofir Scayek, Asaf Hershko, Yehonatan Izen and Idan Rozenfeld were the team's four different goalscorers.
Finally, Maccabi's Under-13 Team South returned from municipal neighbours Bnei Yehuda on Friday after a 1-1 draw and Team North triumphed in an entertaining 4-5 away tie against Maccabi Shoham.
