A late Orlando Sa goal wasn’t enough to salvage a point against Bnei Yehuda as the hosts defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv by a 2:1 scoreline on Matchday Three of the Toto Cup.
Head Coach Shota Arveladze made a number of changes to his regular Starting XI for Toto Cup play as Haviv Ohayon started in goal with a defense of Eli Dasa, Omri Ben Harush, Tal Ben Haim and Dor Peretz in front of him. Shlomi Azulay making his season debut was in the midfield while Eyal Golasa, Eliel Peretz and Oscar Scarione who was making his first start manned the center of the pitch. Eden Ben Basat and winger Tal Ben Chaim who was wearing the captain’s armband provided the attack.
First Half
After a tentative start by both teams, Bnei Yehuda made good on the real first chance of the evening as Antonio Mersic put the home side on the board in the 14th minute with a blistering shot from the left side cleanly beating Ohayon for a 1:0 lead. Mersic then tried to turn the same trick again two minutes later but his chance when over the bar and out.
In the 22nd minute, an Azulay corner kick found Ben Haim’s head in the box but his effort went over the goal as Maccabi looked for the equalizer. Following a 26th minute water break, Azulay attempted a low 18 meter shot that missed the target and Ben Harush rifled a ball right over the goal in the 34th minute.
Bnei Yehuda almost doubled their lead in the 37th minute as Daniel Avital beat his defender on the left side and went in on Ohayon but the young keeper made a kick save to keep the deficit as is. In the 41st minute Ben Basat picked up a yellow card with the intensity of the match picking up as the sides went into the break with a 1:0 Bnei Yehuda advantage.
Second Half
Coach Arveladze made a pair of substitutions to open the second half as Yuval Shpungin, making his season debut and Barak Itzahki who was now wearing the captain’s armband were introduced for Scarione and Dasa. In the 51st minute Ben Basat has a long range effort that just scooted by the left post and out while two minutes later Azulay, Ben Basat, Golasa and Ben Chaim combined on a pretty passing play that resulted in the latter’s shot being collected by Bnei Yehuda’s second half substitute keeper Nikita Haikin.
Itzahki tried his luck in the 55th minute as his chance also didn’t find the target as Maccabi continued to search for the tying goal. However, Bnei Yehuda doubled their output as Almog Bozaglo cleaned up a rebound in front of the Maccabi goal to take a 2:0 lead in the 62nd minute while Gal Alberman who took the captain’s armband from Itzhaki and Matan Hozez were inserted into the match for Azulay and Ben Chaim.
Looking for a bit more offense, coach Arveladze made his 5th and final substitute in the 66th minute as Orlando Sa came on for Eliel Peretz. And that’s exactly what the boss got. Sa put in Ben Basat’s rebound to draw the Yellow & Blue to within one goal in the 74th minute.
Shpungin took a screamer of a shot a minute later but his attempt went just wide left as Maccabi continued to threaten the Bnei Yehuda goal. Hozez lifted a gorgeous corner to Ben Basat who headed it nicely but Ben Tzeiri just cleared it off of the line in the 82nd minute.
As Maccabi continued to dig hard for an equalizer it wasn’t meant to be as the Yellow & Blue dropped their first match of the campaign. They’ll now get ready for Hapoel Raanana in Toto Cup play at home on Wednesday evening at the Netanya Stadium.
