With just a week to go until the Tel Aviv Derby against Hapoel next Monday, Maccabi have delivered a crucial result and have restored their lead over Maccabi Haifa at the top of the TASE Premier League standings to six points.
The 3-0 win over Hapoel Kiryat Shmona on Sunday night came thanks to three goals scored between the 75th and 86th minutes, and a glance at the history books shows that it is the 51st time in which the club have managed to score three goals within 11 minutes. The previous occasion was during the 6-0 win over Maccabi Haifa at the end of the 2015-16 season.
But rarer still, is that this was only the third time ever that Maccabi have opened their scoring account in the 75th minute and then gone on to score two more goals. The previous two occasions were against Maccabi Netanya in January 1018 and December 1949.
This was also the 19th time this season in which Maccabi have kept a clean sheet and they are now just two games away from equalling the all time league record for a season.
In attack, Maccabi have scored at least three goals in six out of their last eight league wins and while they left it late on Sunday, individual records were also updated as Yonatan Cohen, who scored the first goal of the match, raised his season’s tally to ten league goals. This put him third overall in the league and top among Maccabi’s players.
The winger also added a third assist in his last four games and he leads the league in this category with nine overall. Cohen is also second in the league in delivering telling passes, having racked up 17 so far.
Omer Atzili also continued his fine form, scoring the second goal and setting up the third. He has seven goals and seven assists and is third in the league.
Chico Ofoedu scored the third goal for a total of eight this season is second among the club’s scorers and fourth in the league.
Dan Glazer returned to his position in defensive midfield and has reached 92 successful dispossessions this season, putting him at the top of the list. He and Jair Amador shared nine successful dispossessions during the win over Kiryat Shmona.
Eyal Golasa registered two telling passes out of three attempts, one of which put Cohen through for the second goal that came thanks to Atzili’s cross in from the left.
