With somewhat of a makeshift lineup, Beitar Jerusalem did what they needed to do which was to down Hapoel Petach Tikva 3-1 at the friendly confines of Teddy Stadium in the capital city and pick up the points to keep pace with Hapoel Beer Sheva. However, they didn’t just keep pace with Beer Sheva, they leapfrogged them into first place after the Southern Reds were upended by Maccabi Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium.

Prior to kickoff, one would garner that very few people were thinking that Barak Itzhaki’s team would end the evening in first place due to Beer Sheva’s dominance this season against Maccabi Tel Aviv. But lo and behold, the yellow-and-blue played their rivals extremely tight and ended up stealing the match deep into second half stoppage time when Dor Peretz pounced on a big juicy rebound and slammed home past a helpless Niv Eliasi to give Head Coach Ronny Deila’s squad the 1-0 win.

When that occurred, roughly 60km away in Jerusalem a huge wave of cheers from the over 20K Beitar fans could have probably been heard back in Tel Aviv as the fans, players, staff and management could sense that they were about to move to the top of the table with seven matchdays remaining in the 2025/26 season. Barak Itzhaki’s team has already found themselves in first place this campaign when they were there during the winter months for a bit of time until Beer Sheva moved ahead once again.

But this time it was much different than then. As the fixtures continue to come off of the calendar one by one, the pressure mounts, the tension fills the air and as each day goes by, it becomes a day closer to the end of the season and a chance to take home the elusive title, one that they have not won since the 2007/08 season when they won their second of back-to-back championships.

Beitar, now in front of Beer Sheva by one point, 64-63 while they also now have a better goal differential 37-35 as the month of April is about to come to an end.

However, there is one thing that Itzhaki needs to take a good hard look at coming up this Saturday night and that’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, the team that helped Beitar move into first place. The yellow-and-blue are now only 6 points off of first place after having languished for months on end in double digits behind the table leaders.

Six points and Beitar and Maccabi still need to play each other twice. Dangerous times without a question for Itzhaki and his charges, dangerous times indeed.

Would a goalless draw between Maccabi and Beer Sheva have been a better result for Beitar? Perhaps to some extent yes but perhaps no. The Maccabi win puts them into the thick of the race, but it also gives them a point lead over Beer Sheva, a team that they have not yet beaten the entire season. A goalless draw would have kept Maccabi 8 points away from first and a share of first place with Beer Sheva which would favor Beitar due to the better goal differential.

The Maccabi win though gave them life and a lot of it as they will have a few thousand fans travelling to the Capital City on Saturday night to cheer their side on knowing the a win moves them to within just 3-points from the top of the table, should Beer Sheva lose of course when they host Hapoel Tel Aviv.

The bottom line is that the closer the teams get to the top of the table the pressure packed and intense playoff we will be getting and that’s the case now with three teams vying for the league championship.

If Beitar takes the win over Maccabi, then all bets are off for Deila’s squad to capture the title, it will be a very difficult and windy road to go as they would move to 9 points back with six matches to go. But that win over Beer Sheva breathed plenty of life back into them when they had almost already been down and out. The spirit of Maccabi as they say.

On paper, Beitar is the better team and more complete squad than Maccabi, but the last time the two met, they played to that dreaded goalless draw at Teddy Stadium. The opening match between the two ended in the capital city side thrashing the yellow-and-blue 6-2 in a match that one would be stunned if revenge isn’t on Maccabi’s mind.

There has been rarely a week that when asked if Maccabi can be counted out of the race, Itzhaki would say that one can never eulogize the yellow-and-blue no matter what the situation that they are in is. There is a spirit of Maccabi as many have said and that power seems to keep the yellow-and-blue relevant and in the race. They are of course also reining champions.

And you can never count out the heart of the champion.

Beitar needs to be very aware about this simple but all-time serious fact because on Saturday night Itzhaki and his squad have the chance to pretty much end Maccabi’s hopes. There’s no question that they will be trying to do just that as winning is the name of the game.

With a full squad at his disposal, Itzhaki will have red carded Boris Enow back in the midfield, Brayan Carabali will be back on the back line after being out due to yellow card accumulation while the captain Yarden Shua will also be back in the saddle after getting most of the Petach Tikva game off because of a leg muscle issues.

It’s Beitar championship to win as they are in first and have every chance to knock Maccabi off of their pedestal, but will they be able to and will their inexperience in title races be a factor playing against them.

Saturday night will tell us a helluva lot of how the final stretch run will play out as the final month of the season is upon us.