Hapoel and Beitar played to a thrilling 3-3 draw in the Jerusalem Derby in front of a record setting crowd of 24,123 at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem. In what was a seesaw battle between the two sides, Cedric Don opened the scoring for the Reds in the 5th minute as he clinically finished in front of the goal however, just minutes later Grigori Morozov drew the yellow-and-black even when he sent a blistering shot in the from just outside of the box in the Jerusalem net. But Don took matters into his own hands in the 23rd minute as a terrific individual effort gave Ziv Arie’a team the lead once again at 2-1. However, ten minutes later a red hot Yarden Shua stabbed home the ball as he scored the equalizer to send the squads into the break all knotted up at 2-2.

The second half picked up where the first ended as chippy play and hard fouls littered the pitch. Ibeh Ransom went a bit too far and was sent off with a straight red card when he was booked for a reckless tackle on Ismaila Soro in the 59th minute leaving Hapoel with just ten men for the final half hour of play.

Patrick Twumasi took full advantage of the extra player and unleashed a vicious screamer from the outside of the area that beat Nadav Zamir to give Beitar a 3-2 lead in the 72nd minute. But Hapoel wasn’t done yet as Awka Ashta put the ball by Miguel Silva to tie the game up as the sides split the points in one of the best capital city derbies in years.

“The victory was in our hands,” Beitar Jerusalem Head Coach Barak Itzhaki said. “We led 3-2 in a game that was a very difficult matchup both before and after they had a player sent off. We managed to score goals and had many chances, but a moment where we lacked concentration cost us dearly. We’re disappointed because the points were already in our pocket and I wanted us to move the ball, control the pace, and maintain balance while at the same time make sure that we would not allow any type of counters, and it cost us dearly.”

“We were right there for two consecutive games,” Hapoel bench boss Ziv Arie said. “Against Maccabi Haifa we were the stronger team, and against Netanya we were good, but we were unable to take points. Now, against Beitar Jerusalem, who are a monster, we managed to lead twice, get a red card, and still snatch a point. We led and conceded a goal, we led again and conceded again. That’s naivety. After that came a really unnecessary red card. We weren’t compact enough and we gave them too much freedom to move the ball.”