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Maccabi Tel Aviv played their first derby of the season against Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Toto Cup competition and took it to their rivals defeating the Reds 1:3 at Bloomfield Stadium

Three unanswered goals in the second half by Maccabi who was the away team, will give them the confidence they need as they head to Plzen for the second-leg of the UEFA Champions League third round qualifying match in the Czech Republic on Wednesday night.

The Yellow-and-Blue controlled the flow and tempo for much of the first half keeping possession of the ball for large amounts of time but couldn't find the back of the Hapoel goal. Eden Ben Basat, Avi Rikan and Dor Peretz all had chances before Claudiu Bumba gave Maccabi a scare with a blistering shot that went over Juan Pablo's goal. Maccabi's midfielder Gili Vermouth who was playing his first match against his former club showed terrific ball movement throughout the scoreless first 45 minutes of play as he was booed by the Hapoel faithful each time he touched the ball.

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However a flurry of second half goals by the Yellow-and-Blue put away Hapoel. The Reds opened the scoring in the 49th minute with a goal by Eyad Abu Abaid who found a way to put the ball into the back of the Maccabi goal off a scrum in the box to give the home side a short lived 1:0 lead. This forced Maccabi coach Slavisa Jokanovic to make a number of substitutions, bringing in Eran Zahavi, Omri Ben Harush and Nosa Igiebor who joined Tal Ben Chaim who came on at the start of the half.

First it was Igiebor who beat Reds 'keeper Ariel Harush off a beauty of a pass by Zahavi in the 67th minute. Then it was Eran Zahavi's turn just four minutes later as he put the ball in the goal off a Ben Harush helper and Tal Ben Chaim sealed the deal with a scorcher of a shot from 17 meters out to make the score line 1:3 as the fans celebrated the victory.