April 1995. Matchday 26 of the Leumit League as Maccabi Tel Aviv faced Hapoel Beit Shean on a Saturday afternoon. Elisha Levy’s club was in trouble and looked to be heading for relegation but still had one goal in mind as they visited the center of country-to return home with a point. On the other side of the pitch, Avram Grant’s Yellow-and-Blue were in search of three points to maintain their position atop of the league table. Avi Nimni had been sent off the prior week in a 2:1 win over Hapoel Haifa and would be unavailable for Grant’s side.
Maccabi looked dangerous from the outset and Alon Brumer hit the bar after a poor goal kick by keeper Meir Cohen. The Beit Shean shot stopper then hurt his shoulder and needed to be replaced in the first half by youngster Maman. The Yellow-and-Blue looked to pounce on the opportunity and poured on the pressure as Noam Shoham’s scintillating effort met the post as the two sides ended the first half goalless.
Maccabi continued to press forward in the second half but Maman stood his ground and kept his clean sheet intact. Shukanov had a marvelous opportunity to score at the beginning of the half after taking a brilliant cross by Ron Nachman. However, Maman was in the right place at the right time to take away the ball from the Yellow-and-Blue midfielder.
Eli Drikes also couldn’t find the back of the Beit Shean goal as he turned in the box and sliced the ball at the keeper who blocked the shot with his fingertips.
The match referee, Danny Koren saw how the Beit Shean players had been killing time and added 6 minutes which was just enough for Maccabi to find the winner. In the 95th minute, Yuri Shukanov took the ball at midfield, advanced 20 meters and unleashed a winner shot right towards the comer of the goal as Maman couldn’t find a way to stop the ball from going in. Without a doubt the victory was one of the most important wins for Maccabi Tel Aviv that season and proved to be one of the dramatic matches of the campaign.
