CWMBRAN TOWN 0 MACCABI HAIFA 3

MACCABI Haifa coach Roni Levi vowed his side would treat Cwmbran Town as they treated Manchester United last season - and true to his word they delivered.

Like United, Cwmbran also lost 3-0, but unlike United the Cwmbran Town players could hold their heads high following a valiant second half performance against the Israeli side whose annual wage bill is £10 million.

For much of the game Cwmbran matched the visitors but in the end sheer class and fitness told.

Maccabi started as expected, controlling possession as well as the tempo of the game and took only nine minutes to break the deadlock.

The manner of the goal will annoy the Cwmbran defence who allowed ex-Everton midfielder Idan Tal to weave his way through several weak tackles and past keeper Matty Ellacott before firing the ball into the back of the net from only five yards out.

It was poor defending but showed the gulf in class between the part and the full timers.

In fairness though, for much of the first half Cwmbran only allowed the visitors half chances.

Striker Yaniv Katan, who scored Maccabi's opener against Manchester United in the 3-0 Champions League victory last season, had an 18-yard curling shot saved by Ellacott with 17 minutes gone, and 12 minutes later Gareth Wharton diverted Adoram Leise's cross away with Tal poised to strike.

But on the half hour Maccabi made it two with another display of true class.

A Maccabi corner was cleared to relative safety but from the angle of the area Michael Zandberg fired a wicked shot through a crowd of players and past Ellacott for 2-0.

Just three minutes later Cwmbran could and probably should have been reduced to ten men, but Maltese referee Anthony Zammit issued a yellow card instead of the expected red.

Ellacott was the culprit, handling the ball outside his area with Maccabi's Katan set to score, but Zammit played advantage and the Crows keeper was spared an early bath.

The closest Cwmbran came to a goal was a Jamie Edwards free-kick that sailed a couple of feet wide of Nir Davidovitch's goal.

Just before the break Maccabi could have made it three but Ellacott superbly tipped Giovanni Rosso's free-kick around the post for a corner.

The second half was relatively quieter, with Maccabi keeping hold of the ball for large spells of the 45 minutes.

But Cwmbran never gave up and always looked a threat from set-pieces with Gareth Wharton coming close on a couple of occasions.

Deep into injury time they conceded a third and succumbed to the same result as Manchester United last season.

Defender Alon Harazi was one on one with Ellacott but from a tight angle the Cwmbran keeper saved well and the danger looked to have been averted.

But Rosso put a delightful cross back into the area which an unmarked Dante Lopez headed home to give Maccabi a flattering 3-0 victory.

Cwmbran: M Ellacott (YC 33), R Carter, N Smothers, R Jones, G Wharton, R David, C Summers (S McCormick 88), A Moore (YC 70), S Mainwaring, K Wallace (T Green 70), J Edwards (R Hurlin 78).

Maccabi: N Davidovitch, A Harazi, A Benado, D Lopez, I Tal (A Zano 68), G Rosso, J Britez, E Ejiafor, M Zandberg (E Levy 75), Y Katan (B Valid 60)