Maccabi's U19s beat Nes Tziona 3-0 to maintain their lead in the league table. Next week's challenge: Away to Kiryat Shmona
This morning Maccabi Tel Aviv "Shachar" welcomed their counterparts from Sektzia Nes Ziona in gameweek 25 of the national U19 Premier League. In the parallel away fixture last December, "Shachar" succeeded in scoring an impressive eight goals to no reply. This time round, despite controlling affairs from the opening whistle, it took the home side twenty-five minutes for those efforts to bear fruit. A joint run between two Maccabi midfielders, Eliel Peretz and Matan Hozez, resulted in Hozez sending a high ball into the area. Striker Raz Yitzhak's resultant header was parried valiantly by the Nes Ziona keeper but fellow striker Mavis Tchibota was first to get to the rebound and stroked home to give "Shachar" a 1-0 advantage. Maccabi maintained their domination throughout the half and only a lack of concentration and simple bad luck in front of goal prevented them from widening the margin.
This state of affairs continued after the restart, with "Shachar" ruling the roost but failing to open up a more convincing lead. On 73 minutes head coach Ziv Arie sent on Omri Haramati for Mavis Tchibota and moments later the substitution paid dividends when the midfielder broke free after a Nes Ziona possession and passed on to the successful duo Hozez – Peretz, with the latter having only the keeper to beat. And beat him he did to make it 2-0 to the home side. Five minutes from time Haramati would play a crucial role in Maccabi's third, when he dispossessed the opposition and passed on to Raz Yitzhak, who slalomed his way past the Nes Ziona defence to fire into the upper left-hand corner of the net to finish off the scoring at 3-0.
The important victory keeps Maccabi top of the table, albeit on goal difference, ahead of next week's difficult away tie at Ironi Kiryat Shmona and just two weeks ahead of their crucial face-off against joint leaders Maccabi Haifa. The match also saw the Under-19 debut of two Under-17s, Tomer Altman and Ran Vaturi.
