The Yellow & Blue only needed one goal to pick up the Derby victory as Vidar Kjartansson headed home the winner in the 8th minute via a Ben Chaim cross as Maccabi will now prepare for a Matchday 19 contest against Bnei Sakhnin next Sunday evening at the Netanya Stadium.
Sports Director Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI was the exact same lineup that featured against Hapoel Raanana last Matchday and included keeper Predrag Rajikovic in goal with a defensive corps of Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Egor Filipenka and Avi Rikan. Captain Gal Alberman was in his usual defensive midfield position along with Eyal Golasa and Yossi Benayoun while Tal Ben Chaim, Barak Itzhaki and Vidar Kjartansson played in front.
Available on the bench were Daniel Lifshitz, Haris Medunjanin, Oscar Scarione, Dor Micha, Sagiv Yehezkel, Tal Ben Haim and Nosa Igiebor.
First Half
Maccabi looked to take an early lead and they did just that in the 8th minute when Ben Chaim superbly crossed the ball into the box right to Icelander Kjartansson who put it behind Ariel Harush for the quick 1:0 lead.
Three minutes later, Itzhaki found Benayoun but number 51’s effort sailed over the goal while Ben Chaim found Kjartansson again in the box, however the striker’s header just went wide left of the goal.
With Maccabi controlling the tempo of the contest, Itzhaki had a marvelous chance in the 26th minute but Harush was up to the task and parried the ball away to keep the score as is. Eight minutes later Ben Chaim came dashing into the box from the left side but his sharp angle effort was just pushed out for a corner kick. Seconds later Shachar Hirsch went the other way for Hapoel, however his individual effort missed the goal wide right as the ball scooted out or harm’s way.
Both sides would not have many chances over the final minutes of the half as the Yellow & Blue went into the break ahead 1:0 after 45 minutes of action.
Second Half
Maccabi’s first chance came in the 53rd minute when Rikan found Kjartansson once again in the box but his header was just off the mark. In the 65th minute Hapoel went downfield after a Maccabi miss, but Hirsch came up empty again for the Reds as Rajikovic was in place to make the stop.
Cruyff made his first two substitutions of the match in the 67th and 75th minutes introducing Haris Medunjanin and Dor Micha in favor of Itzhaki and Benayoun respectively. After a hard collision between Golasa and Ben Reichert, number 23 exited the game and Nosa Igiebor entered in the 82nd minute.
Following 6 minutes of added time, Maccabi closed out the victory and collected three points as look ahead to next week’s Matchday 19 encounter against Bnei Sakhnin at the Netanya Stadium.
