Avi Rikan opened the scoring for Maccabi, but two late goals, the first by Manor Solomon and the second deep into injury time by Lidor Cohen gave the win to the hosts. Next week Beitar Jerusalem will visit the Yellow & Blue to close out the regular season.

Prematch
Head Coach Lito Vidigal’s Starting XI had a number of wrinkles in it as Daniel Lifshitz began in goal for his first league contest of the season with a defensive quartet of Eli Dasa, Egor Filipenka, Eitan Tibi and Captain Sheran Yeini. Gal Alberman, Ruben Micael, Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan, Sagiv Yehezkel and Vidar Kjaratansson rounded out the balance of the team.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Yuval Shpungin, Ramon Roma, Barak Itzhaki, Aaron Schoenfeld, Eliel Peretz and Yossi Benayoun.

First Half
After the two sides played some back and forth football for the first quarter hour, Manor Solomon had a chance from in close for Petah Tikva but he skied the ball over the goal. In the 21st minute, Dasa found Kjartansson but the striker’s opportunity was caught by the host keeper.

Five minutes later, Maccabi almost found the back of the goal when Micael’s free kick went into the box and Yeini headed it towards the goal but the ball was cleared off of the line by a Petah Tikva defender to keep the match goalless. In the 37th minute, Romario Pires tried his luck from 25 meters out but missed the target while seven minutes later Uri Magbo also unleashed a powerful shot from the same distance but the ball went wide of the goal as the sides went into the break goalless.

Second Half
Lidor Cohen took a shot from 10 meters out but Lifshitz was in place to make the save in the 51st minute while two minutes later the Petah Tikva keeper Yossi Ginsburg made a great one-on-one save as Kjartansson tried to beat the shot stopper.

In the 55th minute, Yossi Benayoun replaced Yehezkel while Itzhaki came on for Alberman. Two minutes later Rikan unleashed a powerful blast from the top of the box that just went wide left of the goal as the match remained deadlocked at 0:0.

However, it wouldn’t be deadlocked for much longer as Rikan would pick up his 2nd goal in as many games as he slammed home the ball from in close after receiving a pass from Dasa to give Maccabi a 1:0 lead in the 59th minute. Dasa had a chance of his own on the 71st minute but his opportunity floated over the goal.

Two minutes later, Manor Solomon slotted the ball by Lifshitz to draw Petah Tikva even at 1:1. Vidigal then made his third substitution bringing on Aaron Schoenfeld in place of Vidar Kjartansson in the 78th minute. As the match headed deep into injury time Lidor Cohen beat Lifshitz to give Petach Tikva the 93rd minute winner.