In one of the most surprising results of the season, Ashdod shocked Maccabi Haifa 3-1 at the port city in a dominant performance to take the 3-points. Shalev Harush pounced on a juicy rebound in the 7th minute to give the hosts a 1-0 lead while Michael Ohana doubled the advantage ahead of halftime with a tremendous strike from 25 meters out. Dia Saba scored his first goal with the Greens to cut the lead to 2-1 in the 50th minute, but Yakov Brihen latched onto a fantastic Naor Sabag through ball to score the insurance goal and send the Ashes fans into delirium.
“Many top of the table teams have lost points here,” Haifa assistant coach Guy Tzarfati said in place of suspended head coach Barak Bachar. “We prepared for this game but the result didn’t go in our favor. Over the years, games at Ashdod are very difficult but that is no excuse.”
“You could say that this is our biggest win of the season,” Ashdod coach Ran Ben Shimon began. “We decided to not control the ball and we knew that this would be a game of counterattacks and we tried to take advantage of that. As a result we had many chances in this game.”
Up in the Northern capital, Hapoel Tel Aviv blanked Kiryat Shemona 1-0 on Alen Ozbolt’s first half goal off a Kayes Ganem assist for the lone marker of the contest as the Reds snatched the 3-points and the win.
“This was a tough game and an important win after a long period of time,” Hapoel coach Haim Silvas said following the victory. “It was clear that this was going to be a tough game from the get go and I am sorry to say this but this was a relegation battle matchup. We had some chances in the first half but we didn’t play well, but we took the points.”
“I came here to help the club but didn’t succeed to,” new Kiryat Shemona bench boss Slobodan Drapic said after returning to the club. “We have to take a look at what we need to improve as we need points. Both teams were at the same level and I don’t think we played poorly in this game.”
Maccabi Netanya slipped by Bnei Reineh 2-1 thanks to a pair of second half goals to complete a comeback and take the 3-points on the road. Lukas Spendlhofer scored from in front to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute, but five minutes into the second half, Patrick Twumasi put home a goal of the season candidate as he sent the ball behind the Reineh keeper directly from a corner kick. Stanislav Bilenkyi then scored his first goal when he took advantage of a poor clearance to give Ron Kozuk’s side the lead in the 62nd minute as the diamond city side grabbed the points.
“We began the game poorly and had a lot of luck that we scored from the corner,” Kozuk said. But at the end of the day, we have players that have winning characteristics and a winning attitude. I knew that this was going to be a tough game and we have to be ready.”
“We lost because of ourselves not Netanya,” Reineh coach Sharon Mimer said. “Two goals were scored from broken plays and we missed some great chances. We played well and we were able to really give a good team problems, but were naive and pressured which ended up being a gift from us.”
Twumasi spoke about his incredible strike following the game, “This was a great opportunity for us and we came here to get the 3-points. I am really proud of my teammates and we came here to win which is what we did.”
Bnei Sakhnin overwhelmed Hapoel Hadera 3-1 to take the convincing win and the 3-points. Dor Hugi opened the scoring with a goal off a free kick in the 8th minute for the Galilee squad but Sami Bourard drew the hosts even a quarter hour later as the sides went into the break deadlocked at 1-1. Beram Kayal finished off a team play to give Sakhnin a 2-1 lead in the 51st minute while Yuval Ashkenazi added an insurance goal near the end of the match to sew up the win.
“It’s a great feeling and I feel that we played better than our opponent and the win was rightfully ours,” an excited Sakhnin coach Kobi Refuah said. “We controlled the second half and we were better despite Hadera being a very good team. Before the game we were a bit down but now we are a bit up.”
“We were trying to finish up our time in the lower half of the table,” Hadera coach Menachem Koretzky began. “Unfortunately we weren’t here for many minutes of this game and we gave out plenty of gifts to our opponent. We have to get back to the basics with good defensive game where we won’t give up such easy goals.”
After nine winless matches, Hapoel Jerusalem downed Sektzia Nes Ziona 1-0 on Guy Badash’s 47th minute goal as the reds took the points and the victory.
“It feels like ages,” Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie began. “I’ve said it so may times this round of games that we were in many of these matches and this one we were finally able to win and also play quality soccer. It was important that we won and I will continue working hard with my club.”
“We looked better this game than last one,” embattled Nes Ziona bench boss Shlomi Dura said. “But things are still juts not coming together. We have the players to get out of the situation we are in but the players are going through a period of time where they don’t have confidence and I have to get that back for them.”
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