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  • יונתן כהן

 

Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" opened round two of the U19 Premier League with a 1-4 win at Hapoel Rishon Lezion, increasing their lead to nine points

Having started and finished their first round of league ties with victories, Maccabi Tel Aviv's Under-19s carried on in round two of the national U19 Premier League in the same fashion, with yet another impressive victory. They defeated Hapoel Rishon Lezion 1-4 at their "Superland" playing field to complete a home-and-away sweep of the clubs' two season 2014/15 encounters. In doing so, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" increased their lead at the top of the U19 Premier League table to nine points.

Despite Maccabi's complete domination from the start of the match, it was Maccabi Tel Aviv keeper Haviv Ohayon who just under the ten-minute mark first fished a ball out of his net following a well-placed header by Rishon's Ely Bachar. But the visiting side recovered quickly and within seven minutes, "Shachar" had turned the match around. Striker Yonatan Cohen first equalised and then came close to a second before one of Rishon's defenders turned Cohen's effort into his own net. At 1-2 Maccabi's momentum continued to gather pace and on 25 minutes Cohen turned provider, sending a pass to fellow striker Mavis Tchibota in a position where he could hardly have missed. Cohen saw a chance to increase Maccabi's first-half lead to 1-4 miss narrowly, but there were still 45 second-half minutes for him to make amends.

And that he did. It took the U19 Premier League's leading goalscorer just four minutes after the restart to get his brace, turning in a superb cross from defender Guy Aviv for his 16th goal of the season. There the scoring finished, at 1-4, despite yet another opportunity for Cohen, and one for midfielder Gabriel Kanikovski, to widen the margin still further. One margin that did grow was Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar"'s lead at the top of the league table, which with the team's fifth consecutive victory now stands at nine points ahead of Maccabi Haifa, who only managed a 2-2 draw against Beitar Tubruk on Saturday.

Next Saturday Maccabi's Under-19s will be at home at the Kiryat Shalom training ground to host Maccabi Petach Tikva.