Ashdod defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-1 thanks to Ravid Abergil’s brace to help the port city side to the 3-points. Abergil put the hosts on the board early with a first half header while he scored his second goal of the game in the 55th minute to give his side a commanding lead. Or Blorian cut the lead to 2-1 was it was too little too late ad Ashdod grabbed the points.

“We had been under a lot of pressure which has petered out,” Ashdod coach Eli Levy said. “The guys worked very hard against Reineh over the weekend and while we didn’t score last game we did in this one. We could play a bit better as we went backwards after we had taken the lead which was not what I had wanted.”

“We had more shots on goal in this game than the last,” Reds head coach Borje Lena said. “However, we missed our chances and we could have scored a couple of times as we had enough opportunities to do so. We will let ourselves up as we lose together and win together.”

Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Petach Tikva played to a 1-1 draw as Liran Sardel scored in the first half for the Carmel Reds while Roy Nawi did the same in the second to split the points.

“When we were up 1-0 we needed to plat and not concede on an east set piece goal,” Haifa coach Roni Levy said. “It’s too bad, but we also saw some very good things. We have yet another game this weekend but we are still in the beginning of the season mode so with time we will be playing at a much better pace.”

“We had many chances but we gave away some gifts that cost us dearly especially in the first half,” Ofer Tesselpepe said. “If we would have been a but more focussed we could have won his game. Burt all in all I am hoary with the effort and the guys who are coming off of the bench without any ego and help the club.”

Maccabi Petach Tikva slipped by Maccabi Netanya 1-0 on Yarden Cohen’s first half strike to take the 3-points.

“This was a special win,” Petach Tikva coach Benny Lam began. “We have to remember that we just played a few days ago and the guys took it pretty hard. We didn’t want give up any goals and that may not be my style but we had no choice we had to take the points and we did just that.”

“We needed to win this game but not control it,”Ron Kozuk said. “We can’t give up bad goals and then go on after our opponent in every game. We need to change things around. We are strong enough to change the situation that we are in and now we have to get ready for Hapoel Beer Sheva.”

Bnei Reineh continued to impress as they blanked Hapoel Hadera 2-0 to earn the 3-points. Shlomi Azulay opened the scoring in the 27th minute before Hadera lost Aviv Lin to a red card a few minutes later giving Reineh a man advantage over the final hour of the matchup. With the extra man, Freddy Vargas added the second half insurance marker for Reineh as they took the victory.

“This was a tough game and this league is just crazy,” Reineh coach Sharon Mimer began. “You never know what is going to go on in any game right now since coming back from the long break. I’m happy that we have not conceded a goal in the last two games since returning to play because in the first five matches we gave up a goal in every contest.”

“It’s tough to play with just ten men for two-thirds of the game,” Hadera coach Nico Avitan said. “This is especially true after having played just a few days earlier. We will always try to win and we will never give up, but this was very difficult for us. We closed them down defensively but we didn’t show enough quality front.”