Beitar Jerusalem slipped by Bnei Sakhnin as Omer Atzily scored a first half brace to help the club take the victory and the 3-points at Doha Stadium in the Galilee. The yellow-and-black took control of the pace of play from the outset against an undermanned Sakhnin side as Omer Atzily launched a scorcher into to the top right hand corner of the goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.

However, Sakhnin found the equalizer when Ahmed Salman’s shot caromed off a yellow-and-black defender and right to Basil Khouri who beat the Beitar keeper Miguel Silva to knot the score up at 1-1 just before the break. But, in first half stoppage time, Timothy Muzi was pushed down in the box handing Beitar a chance to take the lead once again which they promptly did as Atzily scored from the penalty spot to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.

Barak Itzhaki’s team looked to double their advantage throughout the second half, as they had one chance after the next to do so but hit the posts and crossbar on a number of occasions, as they wrapped up the one-goal victory.

“We took 3-points at a very difficult stadium,” Beitar Head Coach Barak Itzhaki began. “I’ll take those points and parts of the games but there were times where we didn’t play fast enough. We could have scored more but we will work on that as we look ahead. These are the types of games that you need to know how to win by the skin of your teeth which we didn’t last season.”

“We have some very good players here that gave a lot of heart and soul to match up with Beitar and they deserve credit for that due to our short bench as we were missing so many regular players,” Sakhnin bench boss Sharon Mimer said following the game.