Maccabi Tel Aviv’s under-19 side were in complete command of their youth league clash with Hapoel Ramat Gan at their Ness Ziona home base on Saturday but only found the net with two very late goals to set them back to winning ways.
Maccabi had more than a handful of chances in the first half, as the dangerous Parfait Guiagon looked particularly potent but none of his four attempts managed to find the target. At the other end, Ramat Gan had a solitary attempt.
The second half was a similar affair, as Maccabi piled on the pressure to set up a similar number of chances, but the breakthrough came only in the 89th minute when Shaked Navon, who came on as substitute six minutes earlier, tapped in for 1-0 after an excellent pass from Or Roizman.
Guiagon provided Navon with his second goal seconds after the game entered injury time and he made no mistake once more.
Maccabi have now won nine of their 17 league outings this season and have amassed 34 points to put them in second place in the standings but they have played one more game than leaders Maccabi Haifa, who are on 39 points and Hapoel Tel Aviv in third, who are on 31 points.
Lineup: Tomer Alon, Guy Itzhaki, Mikel Mor, Itay Ben Hemo, Rotem Yatzkar, Afek Sapir Navot (Niv Berkovitz, 75), Shai Balahssen (Or Roizman, 45), Asaf Hershko (Nadav Nidam 61), Tal Torgeman (Omri Ram, 45), Parfait Guiagon, Ronen Hanchis (Shaked Navon, 83)
