Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Beer Sheva 1-0 at Bloomfield on Saturday night to take the 3 points and move to two wins from two games in Winner League play, despite the visitors dominating for large parts of the game in which two goals were reversed by the VAR.

Beer Sheva started strong with a blistering shot from Kings Kangwa past Maccabi Roi Mishpati to seemingly put the visitors up in the 6th minute, however the VAR ruled out the goal due to a foul at the beginning of the play by Eliel Peretz. Beer Sheva continued to play an aggressive brand of football, especially on defense, with both teams unable to create significant opportunities.

Dor Turgeman opened the scoring in the 45th minute, dribbling the ball from the center of the field after receiving the ball from Raz Shlomo and then getting past the defenders alone, putting the ball past Niv Eliasi in one of the goals of the season to date to put Maccabi up 1-0. Maccabi then had two more opportunities, first with a pass from Turgeman to Sagiv Jehezkel in the box who missed to the side, then Osher Davida skying the ball above the timber with a shot from outside the box, so the Yellow & Blue went into the changerooms at halftime with a one goal lead.

Maccabi coach Žarko Lazetic made one change at the half, with Ido Shahar replacing the Gabi Kanichowsky who suffered a minor injury at the beginning of the game. He was then forced to make another change in the 53rd minute when Jehezkel came off second best in a challenge with an injury to his head, replaced by Nemanja Stojic. Beer Sheva seemed to finally break through when Matan Baltaxa headed the ball from a Peretz free kick via a Zahi Ahmed pass in the 64th minute, however the VAR ruled Ahmed offside and the Southern Reds remained down.

Lazetic then made another two substitutions, with Dor Peretz and Henry Addo making way for Joris Van Overeem and Hisham Layous. With Beer Sheva continuing to attack, Lazetic made his final substitution, with Idan Nachmias replacing Tyrese Asante in the 76th minute and then shortly after Beer Sheva coach Ran Kouzouk made his first substitutions of the game, with Alon Turgeman and Rotem Hatuel coming on for Kangwa and Arnold Garita.

For all of Beer Sheva’s attacking, Maccabi nearly doubled their lead if not for Eliasi, who stopped Osher Davida’s header from an Ido Shahar cross in the 82nd minute. Lucas Ventura did his best to put Beer Sheva on the board in the 90th minute, but his shot had too much power and went above both Mishpati’s head and the goals.

Kouzouk made his remaining substitutions towards the end of the game, with Peretz, Guy Mizrahi and Or Blorian going to the bench for Antonio Sefer, Eitan Tibi and Amir Genah. With 9 minutes of added time at the end of regulation, Beer Sheva continued to attack and pepper the goals, but were unable to convert, the Yellow & Blue winning the game.

“Congratulations to Beer Sheva for a good game, for half the game they were better,” Lazetic said after the win. “They were very aggressive, lots of fouls, we didn’t adapt how we needed to adapt. Their style of play wasn’t surprising for us, they played how we prepared for them, but without moving, if you don’t attack it’s very difficult. That’s the reason that we didn’t look how we expected and how we looked in previous games. Congratulations to our players as well for getting the win.

“It was a very important win because especially because it’s the worst match until now that we played this season,” Lazetic continued. “Without the ball as well, we didn’t play good high-press. We will analyze the game – it’s much better to do that after coming away with the win.”

“A team that is dominant in a game, in the long run there are lots of good things to take from it,” Kouzouk said after the game. “At the end of the day, you need to create more opportunities than the other team. Maccabi Tel Aviv had a couple of opportunities that they shouldn’t have had. On the other hand, we did not make the most of our opportunities.

“I don’t think it was easy,” Kouzouk said when asked if he expected it to be easy to create so many opportunities against the reigning champions. “Maccabi Tel Aviv is a quality team and coached well. It wasn’t easy. I am not happy with the result, but I think that our players had a good game and it’s a credit to them.”

“This is the profession at the end of the day,” former Maccabi player Matan Baltaxa said in his first appearance for Beer Sheva after leaving Bloomfield just three days ago. “I’m very happy to be at Beer Sheva. I made the switch, connected with the players and the coach and the group.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s part of the game,” Baltaxa said of the loss. “The VAR makes the decision. I’m happy with the way that we approached the game today and that’s what we’ll take from the game.”

“After two weeks with the national team, it’s not legitimate, but it’s natural that it happens,” Turgeman said about the result after the game. “But we got the win.”

Lazetic was also happy with his goal scorer.

“Amazing goal, that’s something which we don’t necessarily expect from him but he always tries to do something special,” Lazetic said. “For him, after a tough period in the international break, it’s important for him and the team and that’s his job, I hope he will continue on that way.”

While Turgeman was happy with the goal, his main concern was with the team’s defender Jehezkel.

“First, I hope that Sagi feels better and will get better,” Turgeman said. “But yes, I’m very happy with the goal.”

“We will see tomorrow,” Lazetic said of the injuries. “Sagiv is already in hospital, we will see if it’s necessary to get surgery. He’ll be out for one or two months. The others [Kanichowsky and Turgeman, who had minor injuries] we will see after the MRIs tomorrow.”

Maccabi now prepares for its Round 1 clash against Hapoel Jerusalem at Bloomfield on Wednesday night, which was rescheduled due to European play. In Round 4 action Maccabi will travel to take on Ashdod on Sunday night, while Beer Sheva will host Hapoel Hadera on Saturday night.