After Monday night's goalless draw at Kiryat Shmona, Maccabi head coach Pako Ayestaran gave his view of the match: "We were going to take the points and suddenly we lost the momentum"
Late last night the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad made the long journey back to Tel Aviv from Israel's northernmost frontier with a valuable away point in their pockets after battling out a goalless draw against Ironi Kiryat Shmona. At the end of the somewhat laboured contest, Maccabi head coach Pako Ayestaran stressed the fact that an away encounter against a solid side that held the top spot in the table for long portions of the season was never going to be an easy one. It was clear, the Spaniard added, that they would be looking to win.
As for his own side's performance Pako commented: "Maybe in the first half we controlled the game but we didn't find the right passes, we didn't have enough runners behind the back four and they had a couple of good chances on the break because they are good on the break". After the interval the coach made a number of substitutions he believes had an impact on the course of the tie: "In the second half I think we went for the game but we lost the momentum. I think after twenty minutes we had the game under control. It looked like we were going to take the points and suddenly we lost the momentum". Since the beginning of February, the team's displays on the road have been somewhat less than impressive, with three draws and two losses in five outings. But Pako stressed his belief that the team's failure to win on the night was not down to performances away from Bloomfield in general but simply to the fact that they failed to score.
The head coach once again refused to be drawn into speculation about a third consecutive Maccabi league championship being just a matter of time. Eight points can quickly become five, the Spaniard stressed, and five points is not much of a lead. The team must continue to keep their foot on the gas, Pako insisted, and improve both as a unit and as individuals. That, he concluded, would be the only way to keep the fans really happy.
