Vidar Kjartansson scored a 9th minute goal wearing his brand new number 9 jersey to help Maccabi to the win and three points. Aaron Schoenfeld and Marcelo dos Santos made their Yellow & Blue debuts in the victory.

Prematch
Sports Director Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI had some new wrinkles in it from prior matches, however, the goalkeeper position was not one of them as Predrag Rajikovic was in goal with a defense of Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Captain Sheran Yeini. Gal Alberman, Eyal Golasa and Yossi Benayoun patrolled the midfield while Dor Micha, Tal Ben Chaim and Vidar Kjartansson played up front.

Available on the bench for Cruyff were Daniel Lifshitz, Omri Ben Harush, Ramon Roma, Barak Itzhaki, Aaron Schoenfeld, Marcelo dos Santos and Eliel Peretz.

First Half
With an electric atmosphere throughout the Netanya Stadium, the Yellow & Blue looked to take advantage of their home field and they did just that in the 9th minute thanks to Maccabi’s new #9 Vidar Kjartansson. The Icelandic striker who just switched numbers from 9 to 24, took Dasa’s magnificent cross in the middle of the box and slotted home the ball for a quick 1:0 lead.

Maccabi looked to double the score in the 13th and 19th minutes to no avail, while the Yellow & Blue kept the Beer Sheva attack at bay. In the 28th minute, Mahran Radi tried to find the equalizer for Beer Sheva against his ex-club but missed from long range while Ben Chaim’s free kick three minutes later found Benayoun’s head, but the veteran’s chance went over the bar.

With the contest heating up in the 39th minute, Maor Bozaglo picked up a yellow card for a reckless tackle on Tal Ben Chaim while Eliyaniv Barda received one as well for complaining from the bench. In the 43rd minute Ovidiu Huban tried his luck from far out, but his effort was skied over Rajikovic’s goal as Maccabi had back to back chances at the other end. Micha hit the right post and Ben Chaim’s effort just went wide left of the goal as Maccabi headed into the break with a 1:0 lead.

Second Half
The rough play continued into half number two as Loai Taha picked up a yellow card in the 49th minute and Alberman was issued one at the top of the box just one minute later, giving Beer Sheva a free kick chance. However, Maor Buzgalo’s free kick hit the Maccabi wall and the rebound went flying over the goal via a Radi effort.

In the 59th minute, Beer Sheva made the first substitution of the match bringing on Michael Ohana for Huban while Maccabi countered three minutes later as Marcelo dos Santos made his Yellow & Blue debut in favor of an injured Ben Chaim. In the 68th minute Ben Turgeman was issued a yellow card for a reckless tackle on Marcelo while John Ogu picked up a yellow card of his own for dissent.

In the 70th minute, American striker Aaron Schoenfeld made his Yellow & Blue debut in favor of goal scorer Vidar Kjartansson. With Beer Sheva controlling the tempo, Micha picked up a 78th minute yellow card as he pulled down Ohana in the midfield breaking up a counter attack. Beer Sheva then brought on Nir Zrihen for Radi three minutes later, Maccabi made their final substitution as Eliel Peretz came on for Golasa while Beer Sheva did the same in the 87th minute as Voba Brown entered the fray for Taha.

Marcelo had an 88th minute chance but Beer Sheva keeper Dudu Goresh made the easy save. With the referee indicating five minutes of added time, Buzaglo’s 16 meter effort was caught by Rajikovic as he was in the right place at the right time to make the stop.

Following a yellow card to Schoenfeld, the referee blew the whistle to end the match and gave the Yellow & Blue the victory and 3 points cutting the Beer Sheva lead to just 5 points atop the table. Maccabi will now get ready for a Wednesday night first leg State Cup Quarterfinals match at Maccabi Petach Tikva.