The Yellow & Blue scored a goal in each half to take home the 3-points in a 2:1 away victory at Hapoel Ashkelon. Tal Ben Chaim scored off his own missed penalty while Barak Itzhaki took a tremendous pass from Ruben Micael and fired it home for Maccabi’s second goal of the night. Josif Ivanovich would pull a late 89th minute goal back but it wouldn’t be enough for Ashkelon as Maccabi closed the gap to table leaders Beer Sheva to three points.

Prematch
Head Coach Lito Vidigal made wholesale changes to his Starting XI as Yuval Shpungin started in place of Eli Dasa who was out due to yellow card accumulation, Avi Rikan was at left back while Captain Sheran Yeini moved to the defensive midfield position. Eitan Tibi and Tal Ben Haim were the central defenders in front of keeper Predrag Rajikovic while Ruben Micael and Yossi Benayoun rounded out the midfield. Tal Ben Chaim, Barak Itzhaki and Vidar Kjartansson provided the offense for the Yellow & Blue.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Oscar Scarione, Gal Alberman, Dor Micha, Egor Filipenka, Marcelo dos Santos and Eliel Peretz.

First Half
Ashkelon almost surprised Maccabi in the 2nd minute as Raz Meir sent a ball to David Manga but the latter’s header couldn’t find the mark. Benayoun tried his luck in the 4th minute but his effort went over the goal as both teams traded chances early on.

In the 15th minute Ben Chaim broke free as he went into the box with Kjartansson by his side, however, Haim Itzrin tripped up number 11 and earned a yellow card for his effort that was good for a penalty. The winger’s spot kick was saved by Dele Aiyenugba but Ben Chaim put home the rebound to give the Yellow & Blue a 1:0 lead.

Following a pair of yellow cards to Rikan and Yeini, Meir almost stole the ball from Rajikovic, but the Serbian keeper sent the ball away to safety in the 27th minute. Itzhaki had a 38th minute screamer of an opportunity but Aiyenugba was up to the task and blocked it for a corner kick. The ensuing corner was taken by Ben Chaim who sent the ball to Shpungin who in turn gave it over to Kjartansson who just missed the goal by inches to keep the score as is heading into the break.

Second Half
Maccabi looked to find an insurance goal early on and they did just that in the 50th minute thanks to Itzhaki who put home a tremendous pass by Micael who found number 10 in the box for the 2:0 advantage. Ashkelon almost pulled one back in the 59th minute but Manga’s chance went wide of the goal.

Head Coach Lito Vidigal made his first substitution in the 65th minute inserting Gal Alberman in favor of Avi Rikan which in turn moved Captain Sheran Yeini to left back as number 6 took his familiar defensive midfielder’s role. Eight minutes later, the Yellow & Blue made their second sub of the evening as Dor Micha entered the match replacing Barak Itzhaki.

Ashkelon’s Josif Ivanovich almost cut the Maccabi lead in the 79th minute but Rajikovic made the big save to keep his clean sheet in tact while a minute later Vidigal made his final substitution replacing Kjartansson for Oscar Scarione. Ivanovich had yet another opportunity but he skied his shot over the Maccabi goal as Ashkelon looked for at least one goal on this night.

And a goal they would get on Ivanovich’s third chance in the 89th minute as he slammed home a Rajikovic rebound to cut the lead to 2:1. However, that’s how it would end as the Yellow & Blue wrapped up the away win to pull within 3-points of table leaders Hapoel Beer Sheva.