Four first-half goals secured Maccabi's U19s an impressive 5-0 home win over Hapoel Ra'anana
The best way to recover from a run of discouraging results is to do it in style. After their disappointing mid-week exit from the U19 State Cup competition and two consecutive league defeats, Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" did exactly that when they hosted Hapoel Ra'anana at Ramla municipal stadium in gameweek 21 of the U19 Premier League. "Shachar" netted four first-half goals and added a fifth after the break to beat Hapoel Ra'anana 5-0 and record their fourteenth league win, and their eleventh league clean sheet, of the 2014/15 season.
Head coach Ziv Arie made five changes to the eleven that opened the mid-week Cup loss to Hapoel Tel Aviv. With the late-winter heat wave bearing down upon them, the two sides started the first half slowly but halfway through "Shachar" found their footing and began to dominate procedures on the pitch. On 21 minutes striker Yonatan Cohen was brought down in the area, earning Ra'anana defender Yarin Sarig a red card and Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" a penalty kick. Midfielder Matan Hozez stepped up to the spot and scored his sixteenth goal of the season to put the home side 1-0 ahead. With increased confidence Maccabi stepped up the pressure and on 35 minutes an excellent team effort resulted in defender Shachar Fiban crossing to midfielder Sohil Armeli who slotted home to double the home-side advantage. Still hungry for goals, "Shachar" kept up the blitz and on 38 minutes Yonatan Cohen hit the woodwork from an exceptional free kick and defender Guy Aviv pounced on the rebound and added Maccabi's third at the expense of Ra'anana keeper Omri Glazer. Finally, on the stroke of half time, Maccabi made it 4-0 as Sohil Armeli scored his second on the day and tenth of the season off an expert long ball by team-mate Matan Hozez.
At the half Ziv Arie made a number of changes to his side, including sending on striker Raz Yitzhak, who had "Shachar"'s first opportunity to further widen the gap with a free header that missed the target by a whisker. But ten minutes from time it was midfielder Eliel Peretz who finally found the net to end the scoring at 5-0, a victory that keeps Maccabi's Under-19s five points clear at the top of the U19 Premier League ahead of their nearest rivals Maccabi Haifa, who also won on Saturday.
Next week Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" will head 20 miles up the Mediterranean coast to play away to Maccabi Netanya.
