After the 0-1 away victory at Maccabi Haifa, team captain Sheran Yeini was pleased with the result: "It's good for the team, for the fans, for the club"
Last night at the local "Sammy Ofer" Stadium, Maccabi Tel Aviv celebrated their third victory of the 2014/15 season over traditional rivals Maccabi Haifa. In doing so they extended to nine games their run without loss in all competitions against their northern namesakes, for only the second time in the club's long and glorious history. Extending that run yesterday was no simple matter, as head coach Pako Ayestaran was keen to stress after the match's conclusion: "If you are only able to score one goal and you concede a couple of chances in the last ten minutes when you're playing against nine or against ten it's been hard. Harder than I expected because I think we started the first half hour really well, we were on top of the game, we were dominant".
The coach continued: "I think it was a matter of being more accurate in the last third. But I knew we were going to win the game. It was a surprise, after they sent (a Maccabi Haifa player) off, we started playing worse, losing balls that we shouldn't lose, playing slow, and we had problems to find the way. In the second half we changed the shape and I think we had two or three chances in the first five minutes. We didn't score and after the team was quite anxious to find the way until we found in the end. And in the second half I think we had maybe five, six clear chances to score and we didn't. But it's a pity playing against nine or ten you concede a chance to score that shouldn't happen. I think it was the anxiety to score. And after we played the counter-attacks in the wrong way. We lost many balls in the wide areas".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGd7rMX4n8M&feature=youtu.be
Nonetheless, after nine years trying at their previous stadium Kiryat Eliezer, this is already the second consecutive season that Maccabi Tel Aviv have recorded an away win at the Maccabi Haifa stronghold. Captain Sheran Yeini shared his feelings with the official Maccabi Tel Aviv website crew: "It's good to continue Maccabi Tel Aviv's routine of winning away at Maccabi Haifa after struggling a bit at Kiryat Eliezer. It's good for the fans, for the team and for the club. We're very pleased". Maccabi's last visit to "Sammy Ofer" ended with a dramatic winner, this time they kept a clean sheet: "We're trying to learn from our mistakes and get better. That's what's most important, to carry on in our development and earn more points".
Much like his coach, the Maccabi skipper also had a word to say about playing against a team down to ten or nine men: "When teams are down a man they usually focus on defending and that makes it difficult to play your game. In such situations we have to be cleverer and figure out where their weak points are open to attack, and I think most of the time we succeeded and created enough chances. Regrettably we didn't convert more of them".
Maccabi Tel Aviv went into the match knowing their two main rivals had lost at the weekend. Yeini was asked if that had any influence on the team: "We needed a result whatever happened with Kiryat Shmona and Beer Sheva. We wouldn't have played any differently if they hadn't lost. Our approach to every game is the same".
