Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Petach Tikvah 4-0 on Tuesday night in their round 1 clash at Shlomo Bituach Stadium (HaMoshava), making up for the game which was delayed due to the Yellow & Blue’s European campaign.

The visitors broke the deadlock in the 19th minute with Osher Davida striking the ball beyond the reach of the defenders and past Petah Tikvah captain Omer Katz. The home side had some good opportunities through a Tomer Altman strike on target in the 35th minute and Noam Gisin dribbling into the box in the 42nd minute, but Roi Mishpati stopped both efforts to give Maccabi a 1-0 lead at halftime.

The second half started sluggishly, with both sides taking time to settle back in after the break. But then Maccabi started showing why they are the reigning champions with repeat attacks, with Sagiv Jehezkel calmly passed the ball into the box to captain Dor Peretz, who put the ball into the back of the net for a commanding 2-0 lead after 57 minutes. Peretz made it a brace and a 3-0 Maccabi lead in the 82nd minute after receiving a clean pass from Davida, who ensured an open shot for his captain by drawing Katz away from the goal. Maccabi still wasn’t finished, with Ido Shahar putting the ball in the back of the net in the 89th minute from the penalty spot to make it 4-0 and make it a perfect 9 points from 3 games for the Yellow & Blue.

“It was a good match from both sides, well done to Hapoel Petach Tikvah for the good performance,” Maccabi coach Žarko Lazetic said of the win. But also to my players, we controlled the ball, I’m satisfied and it was a good match.

“They have good patterns,” he continued. “In the beginning we had problems with that. Then during the match, it got better and better for us. Also, when we had unsuccessful pressing, we ran very well back.”

Of his captain’s goal-scoring – a clear area of improvement from last season – Lazetic had high praise: “I’m not surprised with Dor Peretz. He deserved that. He always has opportunities, sometimes he misses. But with his approach, I always expect something like this from him.”

“I’m very proud of what we saw here,” Petah Tikvah coach Omer Peretz said. “The first half we pressured Maccabi, we made sure they weren’t comfortable. In the end, though, it ended differently. We can take a lot of good things from the game, but the end of the game, to lose 4-0. disappointed me.

“We tried, enjoyed and learned, we’ll move onwards,” Peretz concluded.

“Well done to Hapoel Petach Tikvah who played well, but we came prepared and did what we needed to do,” Maccabi defender Denny Gropper said post-game.

“I think that in the first half we were good, but in the end they were fitter,” Petah Tikvah defender Idan Cohen said. “I think we’ve learned about how to play in this league, we will move forward.”

Maccabi sits jointly top of the table with last year’s runners up Hapoel Beer Sheva, Hapoel Petach Tikvah sits middle of the table with a win and a draw from the first three games. Both teams will next play on Saturday night, with Maccabi returning home to Bloomfield to take on cellar dwellers Hapoel Jerusalem (20:00 IDT), while Petach Tikvah will travel to take on Maccabi Bnei Reineh (19:45 IDT).