Vidar Kjartansson scored a Hattrick as the Yellow & Blue won their Toto Cup Matchday 4 encounter against Maccabi Petah Tikva at the Moshava Stadium. Tino-Sven Susic also made his Maccabi debut as the new number 31 was introduced for the final 30 minutes of the contest. Matchday 5 of the Toto Cup will take place Saturday night at 19:00 when the Yellow & Blue will visit Hapoel Raanana at the Netanya Stadium.
Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting XI included Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic, with a defensive quartet of Yuval Shpungin, Captain Sheran Yeini, Egor Filipenka and Ofir Davidzada. Eyal Golasa, Avi Rikan and Christian Battocchio were in the midfield while Omer Atzily, Dor Micha and Vidar Kjartansson provided the offense.
Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Sagiv Yehezkel, Aaron Schoenfeld, Tal Ben Haim, Timor Susic, Dor Peretz and Sean Goldberg.
First Half
Maccabi got off to a dominating start as the Yellow & Blue controlled the pace of the match early on. Rikan’s 8’ attempt went wide, but one minute later Vidar’s chance found the back of the goal for a 1:0 lead. Shpungin lifted a smart ball into the box and after a defensive lapse by Petah Tikva the Icelander pounced and slammed it home for the Yellow & Blue advantage.
Rikan tried his luck from 20 meters out but his screamer was saved by Tzahi Gigi in the 12’ while at the other end Yuval Shabtai’s close range chance flew over Rajikovic’s goal. With Maccabi looking for goal #2 on the night they would find it via the Icelandic striker once again as he put in a rebound off of the post from an Atzily free kick in the 17’.
Abidor had a sharp chance in the 28’ but just missed the Maccabi goal as the match began to quiet down over the balance of the half with the Yellow & Blue taking a 2:0 lead into the break.
Second Half
It didn’t take long for Vidar to do what he does best and that’s to score yet another goal in the 56’. Atzily sent the ball into Micha who handed it off to the Icelandic striker for his third of the night and a Toto Cup Hattrick.
In the 60’ Cruyff made a pair of substitutions by introducing Aaron Schoenfeld for Kjartansson while Micha came off for Tino-Sven Susic who made his Yellow & Blue debut. 13 minutes later Sean Goldberg and Sagiv Yehezkel entered the fray in favor of Yeini and Atzily.
Susic broke down the right flank in the 77’ however his dangerous cross was taken care of by the Petah Tikva defense and Battocchio’s 88’ shot was deflected out for a corner as Maccabi wrapped up a 3:0 win. The Yellow & Blue will visit Hapoel Raanana on Matchday 5 of the Toto Cup this coming Saturday night at the Netanya Stadium at 19:00.
