It’s not everyday that you see a football match that ends in an 8-2 scoreline. It’s rare in the game of ice hockey, but in football? It’s nearly impossible.

So when Beitar Jerusalem started to score, score and score some more at Maccabi Netanya you could feel that the floodgates had opened and there was history in the making.

The contest got off to a slow start due to some flares and extra-curricular activity from the Beitar stands and that led to a goal by the hosts that stunned Barak Itzhaki’s squad and the Jerusalem faithful who filled the east stand to the gills of the Netanya Stadium.

However, that was perhaps the shock that Beitar needed to give them the necessary jolt in order to get them back on track. And back on track that goal did.

Itzhaki’s team came into the away clash after having gone winless in five straight games with a brutal State Cup quarterfinal loss to Bnei Yehuda along some tough draws at Ashdod, home versus Hapoel Haifa and then again at home against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Plus there was a league defeat thrown in there at Hapoel Beer Sheva. But the past two games, the one down in the southern capital as well as the goalless draw against Maccabi at Teddy Stadium gave the bench boss some positive hope that his team was going to be just fine.

In fact, more than fine.

There’s no question that Beitar were the better team in the Maccabi game as they created chance after chance and they were at least the equal of Beer Sheva at Turner Stadium despite coming up short 2-1 in that league loss. Itzhaki was very upbeat after those two performances and wouldn’t let anyone talk to him about his team being in any sort of crisis because they really were not. Perhaps they were experinicng a short term slump but it was nothing more than that as the 8-2 win will put the past five games in the rear view mirror.

Sure, to the naked eye it looked as if Beitar was in bad shape and the alarm bells needed to be sounded loud and clear that the yellow-and-black were in trouble, but the head coach would not even go close to that. Itzhaki stated over and over again during the past two weeks that his team was in fine shape and that they were going to be A OK. It didn’t matter if it was at the pre-match and post-match presser, on TV or in the media room, Itzhaki repeated himself and repeated himself and repeated himself. And now he can take all of the credit for what was the club’s largest win since the smashed Maccabi Herzliya 8-1 way back during the 1994/95 season.

It’s certainly been a long time since Beitar could say “Crazy 8’s”.

Yarden Shua, the captain of the ship was absolutely magnificent as he worked his magic on the pitch with a pair of goals as well as an assist, all of which came in the first half that’s saw Beitar head down to the break with a 5-2 lead. That brought his goal total to 12 for second place in the league just behind Dan Bitton who has 15, to go along with a trio of assists as well.

Shua, now 26-years old and much mature than he was earlier in his career, played leader extraordinaire and finally admitted that his team is going to battle it out for the championship all the way to the end of the season. It was really the first time that anyone from the club publicly went as far as saying that they are in it to win it.

Usually, the head coach, Shua or any other member of the team would downplay the league title as a goal, but finally the words were uttered that they are there to go all the way until the end.
And really, why not?

It’s been clear for weeks if not months that thanks to a superb start to the season, Beitar would be aiming for the gold and that began with the signing of Luka Gadrani who arrived just shy of two months into the campaign. Boris Enow, who was honored by his former team prior to the game, has just gotten better and better while Gonzalez, a true striker, a real true life #9 looked fabulous, not to even mention Nana Antwi who has brought another dimension to the team.

The Colombian marksman’s goal was scored with a cheeky backheel off a pass from speedster Antwi who was lethal on the right flank all game long. Gonzalez then sent an all-world flick of an assist to an oncoming Enow for his goal which was an even bigger piece of art, right out of the Louvre.

Some fans were all ready to send the striker back home after what had looked like to them as a subpar performance against Maccabi Tel Aviv as their patience level had dropped to the lowest levels. But Itzhaki saw some good things in that game and he was rewarded by for not listening to the outside noise and saw Gonzalez not only be a part of a pair of goals but also continuously to wear down the Netanya defenders and be a big problem for them in many more ways than just one.

Antwi was stellar and really got his feet wet in the goalless draw against Maccabi Tel Aviv the week prior, as the defensive back played up and down the right side being an interchangeable part to Itzhaki’s formation that began as a 4-3-3 but also moved to a 5-4-1 at times as well. The 25-year old Ghanaian looks to be a terrific signing and will be an asset to Beitar as we head into the championship playoffs.

Enow has just been looking better and better since he joined the squad and has totally found his footing while bringing a certain calm to the pitch with him, knowing what needs to be done and when. A professional footballer of the highest order.

Omer Atzily made his long anticipated return from injury which will give Itzhaki another positive headache as to where he will be able to best use him after he made his way onto the field of play for the final five plus minutes or so.

Add goals by Johnbosco Kalu, Adi Yona, Ziv Ben Shimol and Yarden Cohen and it’s not hard to see that this is a very content crew that spread the wealth around and is ready to yes, go all the way this season.

With the lead at the top of the table cut to 4-points from Hapoel Beer Sheva and the goal differential being reduced from 8 to just 2 after the victory in Netanya, well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the championship race is wide open. Beitar knew going into Monday’s game that they could make up ground following Beer Sheva’s home draw with Hapoel Haifa on Sunday night, a team that recently split the points at Teddy Stadium and that’s a very big positive.

They didn’t clam up under the pressure, something that they have done quite a bit at home where they have scored only 18 of their 56 totals goals this season. However, they have scored 21 goals after the 75th minute of games this year which is a tremendous amount top say the least.

The bottom line is that Itzhaki and Beitar are going all in to win and have plenty of real estate left to do it with two more regular season clashes with Tiberias at home and then an “away” derby against Hapoel Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium. That will then be followed up by ten Championship Playoff matches where they will play all of the big boys twice, so that means two more against Beer Sheva, Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Tel Aviv to say the least and not just for Beitar but for all of those clubs. There will plenty of points won and lost over the next three months as we head into the stretch run.

That will no doubt make for plenty of fun and excitement.