Maccabi played their last match of 2018 and defeated Hapoel Raanana 2:0 which was also their 6th win across all competitions.
Maccabi’s Terrific Month
Vladimir Ivic’s squad had a successful month which included 6 wins and a draw (1:1 against Maccabi Petah Tikva on 1.12). Over the 7 matches Maccabi’s goal differential was 18:4.
Maccabi’s lead atop the table increased to a 16 point lead over second place as Bnei Yehuda fell to Maccabi Haifa.
This was the first contest for the Yellow & Blue at Ramat Gan Stadium since 2013/14 when the defeated Ramat HaSharon 1:0.
Rajko’s Iron Defense
Keeper Predrag Rajkovic was all smiles after the match after recording his second clean sheet in row. To date, the Serbian shot stopper and Maccabi have only conceded 8 league goals, the least of any other team.
Scorer
Ivic’s super substitute this time was Dor Peretz who came on in the 64’ and scored Maccabi’s second goal in the 73’.
Peretz joins Avi Rikan who turned the same trick against Hapoel Beer Sheva and Yonatan Cohen who did the same thing versus Beitar Jerusalem in the State Cup.
Once were already on the subject of Dor Peretz, let’s note that his goal against Hapoel Raanana was his 5th marker this season which ties him for second place with Omer Atzili and Itay Shechter who also scored his 5th goal against Raanana, among Maccabi goal scorers this campaign. Eliran Atar is first with 7.
Peretz is the only midfielder in the league with that amount of goals. Players such as Yarden Shua in first place with 9 and Nigel Hasselbaink with 5 are attacking players. Gidi Kanuk who plays a similar position as Peretz has 4 goals.
With his assist on Itay Shechter’s goal, Maor Kandil has now assisted on a goal in his last three matches for Maccabi.
Ruslan Barsky proved once again that he just doesn’t stop running. The midfielder went over the 12km mark once again as he clocked in with 12.km. Dan Glezer was second for the Yellow & Blue with 11.4km.
