Beitar Jerusalem defeated Hapoel Raanana 5-2 in an exhibition game as Ori Azo starred with a brace and an assist while Nana Antwi returned from injury against the Leumit side.

The yellow-and-black started out strong in a game that was played with two forty minute halves as Ziv Ben Shimol delivered a corner into the box as Gil Cohen nodded the ball home in the 9th minute. Raanana equalized nine minutes later when Roy Har finished off a counterattack to make it 1-1, a score that remained until halftime.

Head Coach Almog Cohen made wholesale substitutions at the break as Omer Atzili, Adi Yona, Azo and Antwi all entered the match and helped Beitar regain when Atzili advanced down the right flank before sending a low cross toward Azo, who fired a low shot into the net to make it 2-1 in the 42nd minute.

Eight minutes later, Atzili hit the post and in the 51st minute Antwi, making his return from injury, was brought down inside the box. Yona stepped up to take the penalty, but Raanana’s goalkeeper saved his effort.

Raanana equalized again in the 62nd minute when a cross that had been cleared struck one of their players and deflected into the net. Beitar, however, took control in the closing stages. In the 73rd minute, Yona won possession inside the box and laid the ball off to Azo, who completed his brace with another low finish to restore the Beitar lead.

Three minutes later, Ravid Abergil won the ball around 30 meters from goal, advanced toward the box and scored Beitar’s fourth while in the 78th minute, Azo capped an excellent performance with an assist for Ben Shimol, who turned inside the box and fired a low shot into the net to complete a 5-2 victory for Beitar Jerusalem.

In other exhibition action, Maccabi Netanya defeated Hapoel Ramat Gan 3-0 in a friendly played between the sides Wednesday morning at Netanya’s training complex.

The first half ended goalless, but Netanya took the lead just two minutes after the restart. Aziz Ouattara opened the scoring in the 47th minute with a powerful strike from 15 meters. Five minutes later, a fine Netanya attack ended with a superb through ball from Nadav Nidam to Aylon Almog, who made no mistake in front of the goalkeeper to double the advantage.

The final score was set in the 66th minute when another Netanya attack was parried by the Ramat Gan goalkeeper into the middle of the box, where Oz Bilu was on hand to score the third. Center-back Olivier Verdon made his first start and appearance for the club, while Romanian midfielder Gabriel Simion, who arrived in Israel on Tuesday night, also made his debut, coming on in the 70th minute.