Schahar Piven (19) Eylon Almog (44) and Yonatan Cohen (80) scored the goals for Vladimir Ivic’s side which remains top of the table 12 points ahead of Maccabi Haifa that beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 3-1 on the night. With four matches left until the end of the season and the championship all but won, Maccabi needs only a solitary point to celebrate a 24th league title. This could be achieved on Saturday night against the arch city rivals as Maccabi hosts Hapoel at Bloomfield stadium in four-days- time.
Seventeen minutes from the start and after a good spell of the hosts, Maccabi charged for a counter attack as Dor Peretz ghosted into the area and was unmarked to head Nick Blackman’s pinpoint cross towards goal, only to see Jasmin Buric push the ball out for a corner. Eylon Almog’s resulting corner curled beyond the reach of Haifa’s keeper and defense, before falling to Schahar Piven whose low left-foot drive found the back of the net. The 24-year-old central defender who scored his senior debut goal in the Toto Cup last season, scored his debut league goal.
Tomer Altman, who is on loan at Haifa tested Daniel Tenenbaum in the 27th minute with a fierce left foot drive which was pushed for a corner. While another former Maccabi player, Dor Malul forced Tenenbaum to block with his feet on 43.
Within a minute however, Tenenbaum was instrumental at the opposite end of the pitch as he set up Eylon Almog for Maccabi’s second goal. The 25-year-old Brazilian custodian grabbed the ball in his own area and released Almog who raced from the halfway line, shrugged off Miki Sirostein and with only Buric to beat scored his second goal in three days.
In the 59th minute Tenenbaum was forced to a double save as he first saved Nes Zamir’s powerful drive before denying Saar Fadida who threatened to blast in the rebound.
A minute later Blackman’s cross found Geraldes at the far post only to see the Portuguese full back hook his shot over the bar. This was Blackman’s final contribution on the night as he came off together with Almog allowing Yonatan Cohen and Itay Schechter to lead the attack for the final half hour.
Eyal Golasa and Jair Amador replaced Peretz and Saborit in the 70th minute. Nine minutes later, Maccabi were awarded a penalty as Cohen and Schechter combined well on the edge iof the area before Eli Balilti brought down Schechter in the box. Cohen stepped up and blasted in the spot kick to make it 3-0 and score his 11th goal of the season.
Parfait Guiagon who made his senior debut appearance in the derby stepping onto the pitch for the final seconds of the derby, replaced Avi Rikan for the final eight minutes. Liran Liani’s final whistle together with news that Hapoel Tel Aviv lost to Maccabi Haifa – sent Maccabi’s players to the dressing room knowing they have a tasty derby on their hands on Saturday.
Preview
Vladimir Ivic made five changes to the side which beat Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-0 in Saturday’s derby as he kept the three central defenders formation with Maor Kandil and Jair Amador dropping to the bench. While Andre Gerlades replaced Kandil at the right wing-back role, Ofir Davidzada occupied the same role on the left with Enric Saborit pushing into the middle together with Sheran Yeini and Schahar Piven. With Dan Glazer supplying the cover at the heart of midfield, Dor Peretz, who made a second half substitute appearance in the derby, was named alongside Avi Rikana giving Eyal Golasa a much needed rest on the bench.
Eylon Almog whose contribution to the derby victory with a goal and an assist, earned him enough credit to be named amongst the starters together with Nick Blackman – with Yonatan Cohen and Itay Schechter waiting for a chance amongst the substitutes.
