Hapoel Tel Aviv got by Hapoel Beer Sheva 2-1 as Amit Lemkin scored deep into second half injury time to snatch the win and the 3-points at Bloomfield Stadium. With the defeat the southern reds dropped into second place, three points behind Beitar Jerusalem who claimed the top spot. Hapoel Tel Aviv got on the board very quickly as Beer Sheva keeper Niv Eliasi’s coughed up the ball to an oncoming Loizos Loizou who slotted it into the goal for a quick 1-0 lead in the 4th minute.

Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

Both sides needed to make injury substitutions in the first half as southern reds acting captain Helder Lopes came off for Ofir Davidzada while Stav Turiel, who had extended his contract through the the 2028/29 season also had to come off in favor of Roie Alkukin as the half came to an end with hosts holding onto the one goal lead.

Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

Beer Sheva came out of the break looking for the equalizer as Kings Kangwa hit the left post from 22 meters out but his next chance went into the goal as Eliel Peretz set up the Zambian midfielder in the box as he laced home a terrific goal to knot the game up at 1-1 in the 55th minute. Amir Ganach almost gave the visitors the lead but his smart shot hit the bar as Kangwa’s chance late in the game missed the target.

Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

However, as time wound down Hapoel Tel Aviv broke downfield as Liran Rotman sent the ball to an oncoming Amit Lemkin who placed it right between a diving Eliasi and the right post to score the winner as time wound down and steal the points from Beer Sheva.

Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Elyaniv Barda spoke about taking the win deep into second half injury time, “This is the life of the game of football, there are great high points and low points that are heartbreaking. This was very important for me to lift the players up and encourage them as Hapoel Tel Aviv is a huge club and we had a tough second half but we had the ability to do what we needed to. I want to take this club back to its glory days and it really doesn’t matter who we defeat. We had a really rough week after the cruel loss in the Derby and we had to all come together and bring back the energy that we needed in order to have these types of great moments.”

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“There is a lot here about character and we can change that,” Hapoel Beer Sheva Head Coach Ran Kozuk began. “The first half was one of our weakest this season. I know what needs to be done and the players know what I think about that, what was said at halftime will remain with me. We are always looking at how we can improve and there were a lot of good things that we did in the second half as we scored fairly quickly. We needed to continue to push and press for another one. I’m goin to concern myself with Beer Sheva and not Beitar Jerusalem.”

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Amit Lemkin talked about his winning goal and the victory, “We are Hapoel Tel Aviv and we come in to win every game and we did just that. We had a tough week after the Cup match but that’s football, we knew we had a big game against Hapoel Beer Sheva at home and we wanted to make sure we did everything in our power to take the 3-points. We wanted to win this game for the fans especially after the Derby. I’m going to do everything that I can to help this team.”

Djibril Diop spoke about the defeat, “The second half was great but it was a hard pitch and we had to do better, of you didn’t score you can’t win the game. We try to do your best and we have to improve. This was not about character but things happen during the game and this was not good enough, we have to do better. It doesn’t change our mentality as we try to win every single game. We had a large lead and we always try to win games, we have to better.”

Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman