Four points in three games. Is that the start Beitar Jerusalem had expected? Should Barak Itzhaki’s team taken more points than that?

Let’s take a look at the yellow-and-black’s season thus far and see where their headed as they ready for a match day four date with Kiryat Shemona in the capital city on Saturday night at 8pm (Teddy Stadium).

Their first game yielded a 2-1 at Bnei Sakhnin, with Doha Stadium being one of the toughest grounds in the league. The second matchup was their first at home which resulted in a goalless draw with ten men for the majority of the game against Maccabi Haifa.

As for the third contest, well that turned out to be a devastating 3-2 defeat at the hands of their arch-rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium in what was an absolute heartbreaker after having taken a 2-1 lead into second half injury time.

“It’s true that we managed to come back and take the lead,” Itzhaki began to explain. “But it wasn’t the kind of football I want us to play. Yes, we turned it around, but overall it wasn’t a high-level performance. I’m mainly focused on us and we weren’t able to execute the style I want us to play. We have a lot to work on and improve. Of course, the league is still long. I know that around here, every game is either a scandal or a festival, but we’ll stay focused on our path and our constant desire to improve.“

Should Beitar have held on in the game against the reds they’d be sitting pretty right now with 7 points out of a possible 9 with the two missing points really an acceptable result after going down a man. But instead they have just four as they suffered one of the toughest losses that they have had to endure over the last number of seasons.

Not only was it a tough loss versus the newly promoted Hapoel Tel Aviv. Not only did they blow a late lead. And not only did they not only lose a lead but they gave up the winning goal off a brilliant free kick by a player in Omri Altman that had not been a factor in the Reds squad whatsoever until this game.

But really, the most frustrating part of the loss was that it was to one of their biggest foes in a packed stadium with so many of their own fans who stood there in disbelief with their jaws wide open not knowing what had hit them other than an Altman free kick that split the Red Sea as the final whistle was blown.

“I can understand the fans,” the Beitar bench boss commented. “I know how important this game is. I felt it myself when I was a player at Beitar. I also saw what happened after the previous game against Hapoel Tel Aviv – that time the result was in our favor, and the vibe after we won was incredible. So I can understand that they’re disappointed after we lost, especially in such a dramatic way, conceding two goals at the end after leading. That’s tough. We need to be strong and look ahead. The fans will also need a few days to recover from this, but we still have a game on Saturday and like I said before, I hope in that game we’ll get back on the winning track.”

If Beitar Jerusalem is serious about playing their best and punching their ticket to the Championship Playoffs at the end of the regular season while finishing as high as they can on the table, then they can’t have what occurred at Bloomfield Stadium to occur again for all intents and purposes.

Beitar will now have a run of five games against teams who are definitely not the favorites to win the league or even advance to the playoff round, before they host Hapoel Beer Sheva in the first week of November.

Itzhaki’s crew can more than make up those lost points when they play the likes of Hapoel Haifa, Hapoel Petach Tikva, Ashdod and Bnei Reineh but they also have to pass a pretty tough test against Kiryat Shemona this Saturday night. Shay Barda’s team may not be playing their home games in the northern capital, but they have done a more than admirable job by collecting the same amount of points as Beitar, 4.

They don’t have the big names that some of the other teams have, but one player to watch is Muhammad Abu Rumi who has three goals in as many games for Barda’s crew. Speaking of Barda, the K8 bench boss made sure to see Beitar before their clash this weekend and was at Bloomfield Stadium to watch his next opponent, live and in person as he witnessed what the 20K Hapoel fans saw as well as they 3K Beitar supporters.

On one hand Barda knows that Beitar is coming into the game most probably frustrated and broken, but on the other hand if Itzhaki gets his ducks in order and can bring his team back into reality after a game that was more like the twilight zone, then they will be dangerous, very dangerous. Barda has been around the block enough times to know what a team can and can’t do and will be prepared, most probably looking to do damage out of the gate to steal a quick goal or perhaps two.

“We’re playing at Teddy Stadium, our home ground,” Itzhaki said. “We need to get back to winning after not doing so in the last two league games. That’s very, very important for us and that’s what we’re focused on. It’s less about who’s the favorite because it’s still early in the season and there’s a lot we need to improve.”

Saturday night’s game will be a real test for Itzhaki and Beitar especially from a mental point of view. Can the players and coaching staff put the Hapoel Tel Aviv game behind them or did it leave them scarred to a point that the loss will continue to haunt them for some time. Should they not be able to flush the defeat down the toilet and rinse their hands of it, then it may be a long, long evening for the yellow-and-black and their supporters.

But as Itzhaki stated so eloquently, “From tough moments, you know, that’s where you rise up from and we’ll see what lies ahead. I hope it’ll be good.”