Beitar Jerusalem downed Hapoel Petach Tikva 3-1 as Omer Atzily scored a brace to send the yellow-and-black to the top of the table with a 1-point lead over Hapoel Beer Sheva at Teddy Stadium in the capital city. Atzily slotted home an early penalty after a Idan Cohen handball in the box while the same Cohen then doubled the Beitar advantage with an own goal.

Cle came back to cut the lead in the second half but Atzily polished off a gorgeous team play to add an insurance marker and wrap up the win. Next up will be a home date on Saturday night with Maccabi Tel Aviv who moved to just 6-points from first place with a 1-0 win over Hapoel Beer Sheva.

Beitar Jerusalem Head Coach Barak Itzhaki spoke about the win, “We really controlled the game in the first half but we saw the players were a bit tired in the second half after a tough match against Beer Sheva, so we made some substitutions. We gave up a goal due to a lack of focus and the fans really were energised after the result at Bloomfield. But we wanted to make sure that we scored another goal which we did.”

Hapoel Petach Tikva Head Coach Omer Peretz looked back at the defeat, “After we were down 2-0 at the half we spoke about trying not to give up another goal and calm things down while trying to not be under too much pressure. It’s tough to surprise anyone in the playoffs and we will do the best we can to develop going forward.”

Yellow-and-black left back Yarden Cohen reflected on the win, “We heard the fans when they lost and it gave us a lot of motivation, we have believed the entire time and we have seven finals now. We have to stay focused and grounded going forward. The fans really pushed us and they are the best in the country.”

Prior to kickoff, former Beitar captain Ofir Kriaf was honored after recently retiring. Gonzalez had Beitar Jerusalem’s first chance of the game from in close off a corner kick as the yellow-and-black looked to get on the board early while Dor Micha and Omer Atzily’s give-and-go was just saved off of the goal line by Hapoel Petach Tikva defender Idan Cohen. But due to a handball Cohen during the play itself the hosts were issued a penalty which Atzily promptly sent to the right hand corner of the goal for a 1-0 in the 9th minute.

As Barak Itzhaki’s squad pushed to double the advantage they did just that as the same Idan Cohen headed the ball past his own keeper Omer Katz for an own goal to give Beitar a 2-0 lead less than ten minutes later. Yarden Cohen looked to add yet another goal as his screamer went wide right of the goal, Atzily’s chip shot was caught by the Katz while Gonzalez’s header cleared the bar. Atzily’s low liner went wide right, Kalu’s attempt was just deflected to safety and Yarden Cohen’s header off an Atzily corner flew over the goal to send the game into the break.

Petach Tikva showed some life to start off the second half as Mamady Diarra and Boni Amian each came close to cutting the lead while at the other end Kalu skied one over the goal as Itzhaki made a pair of substitutions. A Beitar break down the pitch ended up with Kalu missing the target but Cle did the same for the visitors and beat Miguel Silva to pull Petach Tikva to 2-1 in the 72nd minute.

Omer Peretz’s side continued to press Beitar as they controlled the pace of play as Ariel Cohen’s scorcher went over the bar, but the hosts began to move the ball between their midfielders Ziv Ben Shimol and Yarin Levy as the former sent a curler off the crossbar. However, just minutes later Ben Shimol and Levy set up Atzily for a wide open shot on goal that he put past the keeper to bump the lead back up to two goals, 3-1 to close out the win.