It wasn’t easy, but the Yellow & Blue moved on to the Israel State Cup semifinals after defeating Maccabi Petah Tikva 2:1 (3:1 aggregate) thanks to goals by Vidar Kjartansson and a penalty by Oscar Scarione. Maccabi will learn who their next round opponent will be at Thursday’s draw.

Prematch
Head Coach Lito Vidigal made a number of changes to his Starting XI from his side’s 1:0 league victory over Bnei Yehuda this past Saturday night, however, one constant was Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic who was in goal. Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Tal Ben Haim and Captain Sheran Yeini provided the defense while Gal Alberman, Eliel Peretz, Oscar Scarione and Yossi Benayoun rounded out the midfield with Dor Micha and Vidar Kjartansson providing the attack.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Tal Ben Chaim, Egor Filipenka, Marcelo dos Santos, Barak Itzhaki, Yuval Shpungin and Ruben Micael.

First Half
Holding a 1:0 lead from the first leg, Maccabi looked to put away Petah Tikva early on in the contest as Alberman’s 7th minute screamer went flying over the goal. Twelve minutes later, Peretz and Kjaratansson combined to almost put the Yellow & Blue ahead but Petah Tikva just cleared the ball off of the line to keep the match goalless.

In the 25th minute, Scarione had a chance from 20 meters out after receiving a nifty pass from Yeini but his effort was saved by the Petah Tikva keeper. Ten minutes later, Scarione sent a corner kick to Tibi but his opportunity was cleared while in the 40th minute Dovev Gabbay’s scorcher was parried away by Rajikovic to keep the game even at 0:0 as the sides headed into the break.

Second Half
Maccabi looked to find the elusive first goal of the match and they did just that in the 50th minute thanks to the Icelandic striker Vidar Kjartansson. Micha sent the ball into Scarione, whose effort was stopped but the Icelander’s follow up strike found the back of the goal to give the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 lead.

However, the advantage only held for five minutes as Guy Melamed headed in a Dor Alo cross from the right side to draw even at 1:1. With Maccabi clinging on to a one goal aggregate lead, Angolan boss Lito Vidigal made his first substitution of the evening inserting Ruben Micael in favor of Peretz in the 61st minute.

With the visitors pressing, Rajikovic came up big making a huge save from just 7 meters out off of a Melamed chance to keep the score as is in the 65th minute. Vidigal then brought on winger Tal Ben Chaim in favor of Dor Micha a minute later while the Serbian shot stopper saved the day yet again when he punched away a Danino header in the 68th minute.

In the 77th minute, Scarione almost gave Maccabi the insurance marker they needed, but Gigi was up to the task and made the stop. Four minutes later Romario Pires picked up his second yellow and was sent off for a reckless tackle on Kjartansson leaving Petah Tikva with only ten men.

With both teams seeking a goal, Carlos Cuellar took down the Icelander in the box good for a penalty which Scarione promptly converted from the spot to put away the match and advance to the State Cup Semifinals where they will meet either Beitar Jerusalem, Bnei Yehuda or Hapoel Ramat Gan.