El Classico from the previous night it may not have been, but the 1st Maccabi derby in the MJSL certainly provided plenty entertainment as both teams went out looking for their first win of the season.
October 26, 2014 21:45ByAnonymous, Anonymous
MJSL JOAN COLLINS PREMIER DIVISION
MACCABI MANCHESTER YELLOW 3 MACCABI MANCHESTER BLUE 3
El Classico from the previous night it may not have been, but the 1st Maccabi derby in the MJSL certainly provided plenty entertainment as both teams went out looking for their first win of the season.
Yellow against Blues pitched the more senior Yellow team against a youthful and tenacious Blue team.
It was the Yellows that seemed to find their feet the quickest and they settled into the game creating the more clear-cut chances. It wasn't long before they took the lead from a corner taken by Richard Buxton. As the ball hung in the air, the Maccabi Blue goalkeeper struggled to keep hold of it and the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Soon after after Maccabi Yellows doubled their lead with a great goal from left full-back Rafi Dines. Marauding down the left-hand side, Dines cut in and let fly from 25 yards leaving the keeper with no chance.
Maccabi Blues got back into the game Five minutes before half time from a free-kick mid-way in the opposition half. A floated ball was flicked on to a pouncing Max Lever, who somehow managed to beat the offside trap to put the ball into the net.
The introduction of three substitutions at the start of the second half seemed to affect the Yellows rhythm, and from being comfortable on the ball seemed panicked. It was like they knew what was coming.
With 20 minutes to go Maccabi Blue found their equaliser, with Ben Gould making no mistake to fire past Reece Levy.
Could either team rally for a winner? With the Blues on the ascendancy and the Yellows on the roles it came as no surprise that the Blues nicked what seemed to be a winner. Good work from Lever on the right wing led to him finding Gould in the box to again score with a good finish in the bottom corner with just four minutes remaining.
With the clock running down, Maccabi Yellows threw everything forward as the Blues retreated desperately hanging on.
With just seconds remaining a string of cornes finally resulted in the equaliser. Moshe Hasid rose from within the six-yard box to nod home.
As temperatures on the pitch rose ref Adam Cohen did well to keep things calm.
Both teams will look back and think they could have done better, but in the end of the day a draw was a fair result.