It took M.S. Ashdod less than an hour to erase a two-goal deficit against unfamiliar Bulgarian opposition, salvaging a 2-2 draw with second-division Pirin Blagoevgrad in a preparation friendly, ONE reports.
The result matters more for what it says about the work still ahead than for anything on the scoreboard. Ashdod are rebuilding for their first season back in Liga Leumit, the National League, having been relegated from Ligat Ha'al last term after a decade in the top flight.
Pirin, who ply their trade in Bulgaria's Vtora Liga, made the early running. They led 1-0 by the 23rd minute and doubled the advantage from the penalty spot in the 39th, leaving Ashdod to survey wreckage of their own making at the interval.
There was late first-half frustration too: Ashdod thought they had pulled a goal back through Khalaila in the 35th minute, only for the effort to be chalked off for a tight offside call.
The response after the break was more encouraging than the concession that preceded it. Ashdod created a string of chances early in the second half — Dor Micha's cross found Deboush, who was denied by the Pirin goalkeeper, while Viktor Ouchai's own effort whistled narrowly past the crossbar, both inside the 48th minute.
The pressure told. Ily Tamam converted in the 56th minute to make it 2-1 and set up a grandstand finish against a Bulgarian side unaccustomed to being pegged back.
Ashdod completed the comeback in the 68th minute in scrappy but effective fashion: Amitai Yamin's free kick cannoned back off the crossbar, and Admond Asenta was alert enough to react first and bundle in the rebound for 2-2.
According to ONE, that was how the match finished, with a share of the spoils in a fixture that exists purely to sharpen fitness and combinations ahead of the competitive season.
For a squad reshaped after relegation, a two-goal comeback against senior professional opposition — even in a friendly, even against a lower-division Bulgarian club — is the kind of resilience Ashdod's coaching staff will want to see carry over once the Liga Leumit campaign begins in earnest.
