Shimon Abuhatzira's injury time goal cancelled out a first-half strike by Eran Zahavi as Maccabi and Kiryat Shmona drew their first-leg State Cup quarter-final tie 1-1
In far better weather conditions than those that caused postponement the first time around, Maccabi Tel Aviv and title rivals Ironi Kiryat Shmona tonight met for the first leg of their State Cup quarter-final tie in Israel's northernmost football town. And with barely a minute left in stoppage time, Maccabi Tel Aviv looked like winning their first match in the last four outings after an acute angled strike by midfielder Eran Zahavi on the stroke of half time put the visiting team ahead 0-1 going into the break. Throughout the second half Maccabi held on tenaciously to their slender lead but without themselves finding an additional goal to extend their advantage. That omission proved costly as deep into three minutes of injury time Kiryat Shmona striker Shimon Abuhatzira found himself in space in front of the Maccabi goal and struck past keeper Barak Levy to draw the hosts level at 1-1 and send the two sides into the second leg in Tel Aviv with everything still left to play for.
Maccabi made a brighter start to the match, putting the Kiryat Shmona defence under pressure. But it was Kiryat Shmona captain Shir Tzedek who was nearly gifted the first goal by being close by when Barak Levy leapt to grab a long ball in front of goal but then inexplicably let it slip through his fingers. Ex-Kiryat Shmona midfielder Dan Einbinder got Maccabi's first real scoring opportunity but his strike 20 yards from the goal fizzled wide. Through the rest of the half each side kept the other in check, with only incidental but unsuccessful attempts by Eran Zahavi from distance on 23 minutes and by Kiryat Shmona midfielder Ro'i Kahat from close range two minutes later at the other end breaking the seeming deadlock. But moments before the referee's whistle for the end of the half, a stray pass close to the Kiryat Shmona area was sent on by midfielder Mahran Radi to striker Barak Badash in the middle, who found Eran Zahavi moving in to the right of the goal. The prolific midfielder then proceeded to end a personal goal-scoring drought by striking past Kiryat Shmona keeper Guy Haimov to the far-left post to send Maccabi into the break with a 0-1 advantage.
Maccabi looked like maintaining the momentum in the early minutes after the restart and threatened the Kiryat Shmona goal on several occasions. But slowly the home side got back into the match and began mounting their own pressure, and only a Carlos Garcia clearance off the line and several heroic saves by Barak Levy prevented them from finding an equaliser. Eran Zahavi came close to getting a second seven minutes from time with a free kick that missed its target by inches. But just as referee Menashe Mashiah took the whistle into his mouth to end three minutes of injury time that would have seen Maccabi taking a one-goal advantage into the return leg, Shimon Abuhatzira finished off a sustained period of Kiryat Shmona pressure with a shot from inside the box that got past the keeper and saw the two sides draw level at 1-1. In a week's time in Tel Aviv we shall see if Maccabi's valuable away goal will play a role in catapulting them into the State Cup semi-finals.
