Maccabi Tel Aviv sunk Ashdod 2-0 as the yellow-and-blue scored a pair of first half goals to snatch their fourth win in a many games. Dor Turgeman opened the scoring at the port city as he took advantage of a mistake by the Ashdod defense to give Zarko Lazetic’s squad a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. However, just after the goals Ido Shachar was substituted out of the game injured leaving a big hole in the Maccabi midfield.

Soon thereafter, Nemanja Stojic scored his first goal for Maccabi as head coach headed one by Ariel Harush for the insurance marker and the win. Next up for Maccabi is a Europa League clash against Braga in Portugal as they begin their European campaign on Thursday.

“Every game is very important,” Maccabi’s bench boss Zarko Lazetic began. “This is just the beginning of the season and we will try to win going game by game as I see progress every time out. As for our expectations against Braga, they are a good team and I have experience there from last season, but I think we are better than my previous team Backa Topola was against them then. At the end of the day, I always expect to win, no matter if it’s against Real Madrid or Ashdod.”

“This was a tricky game,” a disappointed Ashdod coach Eli Levy began. “I’ve said before that we have to do everything precisely, when you create a 100% goal situation in 0-0 game against Maccabi Tel Aviv and you don’t score, you will pay a heavy price. The players stuck to the plan and now I have to think how we don’t slide backwards but go forward.”

Dor Turgeman, who scored Maccabi’s first goal looked back at the win, “First of all, I want to wish Ido Shahar a compete and speedy recovery. I’m happy that I scored again in a difficult away game and that I was able to help the team. I have an excellent relationship with the coach and he believes in me. We came into the game prepared as we know that they play hard and I’m happy that we have four wins in four games. As for Braga, we are all excited as everyone dreams of playing at these levels. We will come in and look them straight in the eyes and we will do our job.”