The Yellow & Blue celebrated a hard earned victory at Teddy Stadium on goals by Eran Zahavi and Haris Medunjanin giving Maccabi a chance to win the league title next week as Beer Sheva lost at Haifa 2:1 with the gap to first place now standing at only 2-points.
Head Coach Peter Bosz made wholesale changes to his usual starting XI with Yoav Ziv, Eden Ben Basat, Nosa Igiebor, Barak Itzhaki and Oliel Peretz all handed first team shirts for the contest. Eitan Tibi and Carlos Garcia shored up the defense while Haris Medunjanin and Dor Micha manned the midfield with Captain Eran Zahavi up front and Predrag Rajikovic in goal for the Yellow & Blue.
Medunjanin had the match’s first chance in the 2nd minute but his 18 meter effort was saved by rookie keeper Stav Shoshan to keep it goalless early on. Beitar’s Dutch winger Arsenio Valpoort tried his luck twice in the 11th minute but was stoned both times by Maccabi’s Serbian keeper.
As the match headed into the 19th minute Maccabi had a wonderful opportunity to take the lead. Micha’s deep pass found Zahavi but Shoshan stopped him again while Itzhaki couldn’t get to the ball in time as Elad Gabbay cleared it to safety. Rajikovic was then called upon to come up big sending Itay Shecter’s one on one chance out for a corner.
In the 34th minute, Shoshan was in the right place to send Zahavi’s 20 meter free kick to safety as the sides headed into the break deadlocked at 0:0.
Eden Ben Basat opened the second half with a fantastic opportunity from in close but couldn’t find the back of the Beitar goal while Igiebor’s long range blast was grabbed yet again by Jerusalem’s young keeper.
But finally in the 57th minute, Igiebor was pulled down in the box by Jesus Rueda who was shown a straight red card giving Maccabi a golden opportunity to score from the spot which is exactly what the Captain, Eran Zahavi did from 11 meters. 1:0 Maccabi.
Coach Bosz made his first substitute of the evening in the 66th minute as Shlomi Azulay came on for Igiebor to freshen up the midfield. Ben Basat came up huge for Maccabi in the 71st minute when he slid in to take away the ball from a wide open Valpoort to keep the Yellow & Blue in the lead.
Zahavi looked to add an insurance marker but his one on one attempt was stopped by Shoshan while Peretz’s short range chance from the left side was blocked by the Beitar keeper in the 75th minute. Bosz then made his second change of the match inserting Tal Ben Chaim for Ben Basat to help his side find another marker.
Peretz and Itzhaki each had golden opportunities but the former’s shot from the left side was saved by Shoshan and the latter’s went way over the bar as Bosz subbed out Itzaki with 5 minutes remaining for Dor Peretz.
However, as the match hit the 90th minute Medunjanin sent a terrific ball over Shoshan and into the Beitar goal from the top of the box to seal the deal for a 2:0 win as the Yellow & Blue head into Matchday 36 with the Championship still in reach after Beer Sheva fell in Haifa 2:1.
