Maccabi travels to Petah Tikva for the MD24 ONE ZERO League encounter against Sektzia Ness Ziona on the back on Monday’s 1-0 victory over Hapoel Be’ersheva. The three [points gained saw Aitor Karanka and his charges narrow the gap from the leaders to five points and move within a point from second placed Be’ersheva. As they face the bottom of the table side Ness Ziona, Maccabi will now aim to string back-to-back wins, something they haven’t done since MD14 & MD15 against Bnei Reineh and Hapoel Hadera .
Hosts Ness Ziona, lost their last four matches and are without a victory in their last 8 matches since the 2-0 win over Ashdod on MD15. The newly promoted side are bottom of the table with 17 points, 1 adrift of fellow strugglers Bnei Reineh. Ness Ziona’s coach Shlomi Dora will be without suspended duo Or Inbrum and Almog Buzaglo who were both sent off in their last match.
When both teams met earlier this season at Bloomfield on MD11, Ness Ziona managed to salvage a 1-1 from Maccabi despite being reduced to 10 men for the majority of the game and nine players in the closing stages.
Three matches before the end of the regular season and before the order of the Playoff matches is determined, Ness Ziona hosts Maccabi on MD24.
Maccabi’s coach, Aitor Karanka, said ahead of the match: “I am confident with my team’s ability and I think that the previous match against Ness Ziona should be a wake- up call for everyone. Even against 10 men we didn’t manage to win so the players know better than me how tough this is going to be. We need to arrive with the right attitude expecting a tough match.”
Maccabi’s left-back Ofir Davidzada, added: “I think the worst possible thing is to approach this match with a ‘comfortable’ attitude. All the teams are dropping points lately and that includes the top three teams as well. If we will think that we are comfortable that we will be the end of us at the end of the match. We know there are no easy matches in this league and we must be prepared with motivation at peak level understanding from the first minute that our aim is only a victory.”
