Beitar draws with Petah Tikva, Hapoel Jerusalem downs Hapoel Haifa, Sakhnin shocks Maccabi TLV

Apr 30, 2022 | Football

Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Petah Tikva played to an entertaining 2-2 draw as Liran Rotman scored a brace to ensure that the yellow-and-black would play in the Premier League next season. Rotman opened the scoring in the 3rd minute as the winger took advance of a poor clearance pass to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Yarden Cohen quickly equalized less than ten minutes later but Rotman scored from 15 meters out to put Yossi Abuksis’s team in front once again, 2-1. However, Arad Bar nodded home the ball in the 59th minute to earn a split of the points at Teddy Stadium.

“This was a great game,” Abuksis commented after the match. “We had some fantastic minutes but we were also a bit irresponsible on the two goals we conceded. We reached our goal and even though we were a bit tired at the end I knew a draw was enough.”

“I am proud as to how we are playing and it’s great to be with the guys” Petah Tikva coach Omer Golan said. “We are creating chances but we are still having issues. We have a critical week ahead when we ready to play Hapoel Jerusalem and it won’t be simple.”

Hapoel Jerusalem blanked Hapoel Haifa 2-0 thanks to a pair of second half goals to keep their league survival hopes alive and well with the victory. William Agada gave Ziv Arie’s team the lead in the 52nd minute while Eduardo Guerrero scored the insurance goal in the box to take the 3-points.

“We need two more wins and I am not thinking of anything else,” Arie said. “We recorded a super important victory. Next week against Petah Tikva will be a war and we have to win. We have not played well up until now and if we don’t do what we need to over the next couple of games we will be in trouble.”

“Of course I want to end the season totally different,” Haifa coach Elisha Levy said. “We had a chance to correct our ways after losing to Kiryat Shmona last week but we didn’t take advantage if the chances we had today. It’s disappointing.”

Hapoel Hadera defeated Hapoel Nof HaGalil 2-0 as Steven Alfred scored early and Shoval Gozlan scored late to take the win up in the Galilee. The loss keeps Shay Barda’s squad below the red line in the relegation zone with just two matches remaining.

“We had gone through a tough time and we knew that we needed the win,” Hadera coach Menachem Koretzky noted. “We have a number of young players who had yet experienced good results and it’s important for the club to finish off the season well.”

“We failed,” a disappointed Barda began. “We did everything that we could over the course of the week but nothing worked. I will have to take a look what happened as we did not play well. We had chances but couldn’t score and in the second half I went for it all.”

Bnei Sakhnin shocked Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 on a 95th minute goal by Guy Melamed to keep their chances alive for a European qualification spot.

“I think this was one of our best wins this season considering the squad that we had available” Sakhnin coach Haim Silvas said. “We played well, with all of our heart with the support of our incredible fans. We have been training hard all season and we are fighting for a spot in Europe. This was a heroic game today.”

“This was tough after having won the derby by a 5-0 score,” Maccabi coach Mladen Krstajic said. “We played against a team that didn’t want to play and they wasted time. We controlled the game and we had five very good chances and we had to score. But if you can’t score you have to keep a 0-0 result.”

Maccabi Netanya blasted Hapoel Beer Sheva 3-0 as Patrick Twumasi scored a brace in the win. After a goalless first half, an active Twumasi broke the deadlock as he nodded home his first goal in the 52nd minute while he doubled the advantage with a gorgeous strike from outside of the box a half hour later to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. Parfait Guiagon polished off the victory with a goal deep into injury time to wrap up the win and the 3-points.

“I want to congratulate every player and fan,” Netanya bench boos Benny Lam said. “We didn’t play well on the first half but in the second we gave it our all and played quite the game. We played through our wingbacks and also our substitutes gave us plenty as well to take this win, credit to the guys who gave quite the performance.”

“This was a game that had many battles throughout,” a disappointed Beer Shebva coach Elyaniv Barda said. “We held them in the first half to no chances on goal but but after they scored I took a risk to play attacking football.”

Kiryat Shemona defeated Ashdod 3-1 at the port city to continue on their fine run in the relegation playoffs. Muhammad Shaker gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute but Gal Katabi drew the hosts even a few minutes later to head into the break all tied up at 1-1. However, Itamar Shviro and Guy Ben Lulu each found the goal in the second half for Slobodan Drapic’s side to snatch the 3-points.

“The players are all thrilled,” Drapic began. “They are always happy when they come to train and this is the result. We have a lot of youngsters who want to just play hard and they are doing just that.”

“This was a great game with plenty of good soccer,” Ashdod coach Ran Ben Shimon said. “Both teams don’t have much to play for but there was a tremendous amount of desire. The players gave everything they could.”

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