Beitar Jerusalem defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 as substitute Timoti Muzie scored the game winner in the 80th minute to keep Barak Itzhaki’s team in the championship race. After a goalless first half, Dor Peretz’s header gave Kenny Miller’s squad a 1-0 lead but Omer Atzily found the equalizer via a Yarden Shua through ball. Muzie then scored the winner after Gonzalez sent him a beauty of a pass to slot home the winner and stay 2-points behind Hapoel Beer Sheva and in the title hunt with a pair of matches to go.

Barak Itzhaki spoke about the victory, “All of the teams have so many games one after the other next and we have to do our best to conserve our energy and play the way we are supposed to which will lead to the results. It wasn’t pleasant to have to come into the game five points behind Hapoel Beer Sheva because they played a day before but we all have to have the right mindset. Right now destiny is not in our hands but we will do the maximum that we can.”

Kenny Miller spoke about the defeat, “We still have a lot to play for including a Cup final so we will be approaching the rest of the games the same way. Not coming away with anything this game was robbery, we should have won the game and put it away earlier. We will play the same way against Beer Sheva that we did here and we played very well. We have given up some goals the past few games the exact same way and that needs to be addressed.”

The game winning goal scorer Timoti Muzie reflected on the win, “Our character beliefs need desire, we stayed with our game plan and I’m happy that we gave been able to comeback yet again. It was a great ball from Gonzalez and I even could have scored before hand but I made sure to do so the second chance I had. We will do the maximum that we can to keep pace and win the title.”

Helio Varela had the first chance of the match so he streaked down the left side and laced a low liner towards Miguel Silva but the ball just skirted past the right post and out, while at the other end Yarden Shua’s brilliant volley in the box was just pawed to safety by Ofek Melika in the 13th minute. Ido Shachar sent a ball towards the goal from the top of the box that Silva easily collected, Boris Enow’s scorcher was taken care of by the Maccabi shot stopper and Ziv Ben Shimol’s attempt was blocked by Ali Camara in the 30th minute.

Emir Sahati looked to have given the yellow-and-blue a 1-0 lead as he took a terrific pass from Saied Abu Farchi but after a VAR review it was determined that the striker had been offside while minutes later Maccabi had more chances in front of the goal but couldn’t convert as the match hit the break.

Beitar came out of halftime looking to strike first as Shua’s screamer in the box was parried away by Melika, Johnbosco Kalu’s clear chance went wide while Shachar’s attempt at the other end went over the bar, however, Dor Peretz headed home a Sahiti cross to give Maccabi a 1-0 lead in the 51st minute.

Sahiti almost doubled the advantage but Silva made a diving save but at the other end Shua through ball to Omer Atzily finally put Beitar on the board as the winger came down the right flank and slotted the ball behind Melika to draw even at 1-1 in the 60th minute. Barak Itzhaki made wholesale changes to freshen up his attack as Timoti Muzie, Gonzalez and Dor Micha all came on to try and break the deadlock.

And that’s exactly what Muzie did.

Gonzalez fought off a pair of Maccabi defenders on his way towards the box and sent a perfect pass to a wide open Muzie who put the ball right past Melika to give Beitar a 2-1 lead in the 80th minute as the yellow-and-black recorded the come back victory to stay in the championship race.