Maccabi Le-Zion beat Nes Tziona 41 to 27 in Division 1 on Thursday, extending their perfect start to the season. The home side have now won three matches from three, while the visitors remain winless after two games. And here's the thing — this result keeps Maccabi Le-Zion in second place, just behind whoever leads the table.
The visitors came into the fixture having drawn both their previous games, against Hapoel Arad and Rehovot. Maccabi Le-Zion, by contrast, had already taken two wins and a draw from their opening four matches before Saturday's trip to Hapoel Le-Zion. They found a way through Nes Tziona's defence, scoring at will and never looking back.
We had tipped the home side to win, with 65 per cent confidence. The prediction came good, though the margin of victory was perhaps wider than most expected. To be fair, Maccabi Le-Zion have been scoring freely all season — their last five matches included 32, 30, 32, 34 and 37 goals respectively.
Nes Tziona's record remains stubbornly flat: two games, two draws, zero points. They have shown they can hold their own against mid-table opposition, but this performance suggested they simply lacked the cutting edge to trouble a side that had already established itself at the top end of the table.
The result leaves Maccabi Le-Zion six points from the bottom of the table, while Nes Tziona sit in 12th place with nothing to show for their efforts so far. By then, we will see whether the visitors can finally string together a victory, or whether this winless run will stretch into a problem.
