Dor Peretz’s 65th minute goal earned Maccabi Tel Aviv a 1-0 victory against Hapoel Be’ersheva at Turner stadium. The victory booked Maccabi’s place in the next round of the State Cup with the draw set for Tuesday 23rd.
Pre Match
Three days after playing Shakhtar Donetsk in the first leg of the Europa League Round of 32 at Bloomfield, and in view of Thursday’s return leg at Kiev, Maccabi’s coach Patrick van Leeuwen made no less than 8 changes to his starting line-up for the State Cup match away to Hapoel Be’ersheva.
Daniel Tenenbaum, Enric Saborit and Dor Peretz were the only members of the team who kept their places in the team. Sheran Yeini and Matan Baltaxa both started as the two central defenders in front of Tenenabum with Maor Kandil on the right and Saborit on the left completed the back four.
Eyal Golasa, who recovered from an injury recently and made a second half substitute appearance against Shakhtar, returned to the midfield as did Shahar Piven in the anchorman role. Peretz completed the midfield trio while Eylon Almog, Nick Blackman and Etey Shechter led Maccabi’s attack against a Be’ersheva side plagued with suspensions and injuries.
First Half
Seven minutes from the start Maccabi reached their first chance as Nick Blackman whiped in a cross from the left before Eylon Almog ghosted at the far post and sent a volley straight at Ohad Levita.
Six minutes later, Blackman sent another pinpoint cross from the left this time to Etey Shechter whose volley rocketed high over the crossbar before the veteran striker was judged to have been offside.
In the 17th minute Enric Saborit exchanged passes with Eyal Golasa to break into Be’ersheva’s area but the Spaniard’s shot come cross was parried by Levita for a corner. Shahar Piven went down in the 21st minute after a hard tackle on his ankle by Dudi Twito who was consequently booked.
Mariano Bariero flashed a long range effort which on 25 which crept wide of Tenebaum’s post. Two minutes later Twito should have received a second booking for tripping Almog but referee Erez Pappir opted to show Dor Peretz the yellow card for descent. Blackman crossed the free kick before Matan Baltaxa headed over the crossbar. At the opposite end, Daniel Tenenbaum came to the rescue as he kept out Tomer Yossefi’s shot in the 31st minute.
Golasa must have thought he had scored as he latched onto a back pass in the 38th minute and sent a chip over the advancing keeper. But as the ball slowly rolled into the open net, Eitan Ratzon cleared it off his line to deny Maccabi the opener.
On the brink of halftime, Sagiv Yehezkel, managed to break into Maccabi’s penalty area but was placed under pressure and shot wide.
Bariero limped off before the halftime whistle with what seemed to be a dislocated shoulder and replaced after the interval by Hatem Elhamid.
Second Half
The injury he suffered earlier, prevented Piven from continuing in the second half as he was replaced by Avi Rikan at the restart.
In the 57th minute Almog’s trickery earned him the time and space to float a cross towards Pertez at the far post before the blocked attempt fell to Rikan who shot over. A minute Yehezkel beat Maccabi’s offside trap and lifted the ball over the advancing Tenenbaum only to miss the target. Right on the hour mark Rikan met Blackman’s cross with a diving header which Levita managed to save.
Van Leeuwen made a triple substitution in the 63rd minute as he replaced his entire frontline and introduced Matan Hozez, Eduardo Guerrero and Aleksandar Pesic for Blackman, Almog and Shechter.
The impact was almost instantly as Maccabi took the lead on 65 following a Maor Kandil cross which was flicked by Pesic before Peretz thumped in the opener.
Be’ersheva came close to less than a minute later as Tenebaum pulled a stunning save to deny Yehezkel before Kandil’s last gasp tackle cleared the loose ball off the line.
Itamar Shviro who came on as a sub for Yossefi flashed a header wide of Tenenbaum’s goal in the 83rd minute.
