Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Petah Tikva played to a dramatic 2-2 draw at Bloomfield Stadium, with both sides finding the net in second-half stoppage time before veteran defender Eitan Tibi headed home a last-gasp equalizer to earn the visitors a share of the points.<\/p>\n
With another international break looming, Matchday 10 of the Israeli Premier League got underway Friday as league leaders Maccabi Tel Aviv welcomed Maccabi Petah Tikva to Bloomfield Stadium. The fixture marked the final round before the league takes an approximately three-week hiatus.<\/p>\n
The opening stages were evenly contested, with Dor Peretz appealing for a penalty and Ofek Melika producing an excellent save to deny Jose Cortes a golden scoring opportunity. However, Ziv Arie’s side would soon pay for its missed chances as Sagiv Yehezkel opened the scoring in the 19th minute, finishing off a beautifully weighted through ball from Issouf Sissokho.<\/p>\n
Melika was called into action again to deny Ido Cohen, but the visitors were beginning to gain momentum. Their persistence paid off in the 52nd minute when Guy Deznet was brought down inside the penalty area by Raz Shlomo. Guy Hadida stepped up and calmly converted the penalty to bring Petah Tikva level at 1-1.<\/p>\n
Maccabi Tel Aviv suffered another setback moments later when Osher Davida picked up an injury and was forced to leave the match.<\/p>\n
The equalizer sparked the hosts into action, as the yellow-and-blue pushed forward in search of a winner. Maccabi created several promising opportunities, sending chances narrowly wide and striking the post, but Petah Tikva goalkeeper Dor Hevron stood tall, producing a series of outstanding saves to keep his side in the contest.<\/p>\n
Just when it appeared that Maccabi Tel Aviv had done enough to secure all three points, Ester Sokler finally broke through in the 90th minute, converting a Sagiv Yehezkel assist to give the hosts a late 2-1 advantage.<\/p>\n
But Petah Tikva had one more response.<\/p>\n
Deep into stoppage time, veteran defender Eitan Tibi rose to meet a corner kick and headed home the dramatic equalizer in the 94th minute, silencing Bloomfield and securing a valuable 2-2 draw for the visitors.<\/p>\n
Following the match, Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Kenny Miller expressed his frustration at letting the victory slip away.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I\u2019m disappointed. We dropped two points at home, and that\u2019s really disappointing for us. We had scored late in the game, only to concede from a corner deep into stoppage time. I don\u2019t think we controlled the game the way we usually do. We weren\u2019t good today. We\u2019re all disappointed, and it\u2019s a real shame. We\u2019re capable of putting in much better performances than we did today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petah Tikva coach Ziv Arie was also candid in his assessment, acknowledging that his team had struggled to find its usual energy following a difficult stretch of fixtures.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the game against Be\u2019er Sheva, I was so confident about what we could do. We sat down before the warm-up and the game, I looked at the strong lineup, and it was 5-1. That was a game we should have won. Now, my assistant coach told me, \u2018This isn\u2019t it.\u2019 The energy levels were disastrous. Playing against Be\u2019er Sheva and then Maccabi Tel Aviv is difficult. We took a step backwards, and it was tough, but I think we deserved a point.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Maccabi Tel Aviv, the late concession will feel like two points dropped at home. For Petah Tikva, however, Tibi’s stoppage-time heroics provided a dramatic finish and a valuable point heading into the international break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Petah Tikva played to a dramatic 2-2 draw at Bloomfield Stadium, with both sides finding the net in second-half stoppage time before veteran defender Eitan Tibi headed home a last-gasp equalizer to earn the visitors a share of the points. With another international break looming, Matchday 10 of the Israeli […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":195887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-195883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-maccabi-tel-aviv","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n