Beitar Jerusalem defeated Kiryat Shemona 2-1 as a Yarden Shua penalty and a second half strike by Omer Atzily gave the yellow-and-black the 3-points and the win on the road in front of over 10,000 yellow-and-black fans at the Netanya Stadium. Barak Itzhaki’s squad held possession for the majority of the first half and grabbed a 1-0 lead via a Yarden Shua penalty at the stroke of half-time. With Aviv Avraham being issued a pair of yellow cards, Shay Barda’s team were reduced to ten men at the 60th minute which allowed Atzily to double the advantage almost ten minutes later.

However, Adrian Uggarriza pulled a goal back a few minutes as the hosts kept pushing for an equalizer, but second choice keeper Yehonatan Ozer who started the game in place of the injured Miguel Silva came up big as the time wound down to seal the victory and keep pace with Hapoel Beer Sheva as they remain 2-points off the top of the table.

Beitar Head Coach Barak Itzhaki talked about the victory, “The game developed well for us, but towards the end we got a bit mixed up which was a shame, but at the end of the day I’m very proud and can smile about the win. There are games with pressure, but those are also important to win. We’ll fix things for next time and come more prepared for the next match. In games like this, you need to be very mentally prepared, be concentrated and not be too confident in ourselves.“

Kiryat Shemona bench boss Shai Barda said, “We are proud of the players, some of them were kids playing their first minutes with the senior team. I hope we’ll strengthen the squad as quickly as possible, we need depth and competition.“

Beitar Jerusalem controlled the pace of play from the outset as Yarden Shua and Luka Gadrani had early chances while Kiryat Shemona looked to counter whence they did when Muhamed Abu Romi fed Ali Musa but his header went over the bar and their attempt came up empty.

Kiryat Shemona began beating Beitar to the loose balls as the hosts started to threaten with a couple of opportunities by Abu Romi and Musa as Yehonatan Ozer made the saves in his debut. At the other end, the yellow-and-black had trouble finishing their chances as Yarden Shua’s shot was blocked by the keeper Daniel Tannenbaum and Adi Yona’s rebound attempt went off of the woodwork.

As it looked like the two sides would head into the break goalless, Yarden Shua was yanked down in the box by Nemanja Ljubisavljevic which was confirmed by the VAR handing Beitar a penalty that the aforementioned Shua slotted home for a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Timoti Muzie and Yarin Levy had chances as the second half got underway, Aviv Avraham missed the target at the other end, then received a yellow card for arguing with the referee and then picked up another yellow minutes later for a reckless tackle on Ziv Ben Shimol leaving Kiryat Shemona with ten players at the 60th minute.

Barak Itzhaki freshened up his lineup by bringing in Dor Micha and Roie Elimelech for Grigori Morozov and Ben Shimol. With the man to the good, Beitar went to work and doubled their advantage as Yarin Levy sent a perfect through ball to Atzily who slotted it home in the 69th minute but Adrian Uggarriza cut the lead to 2-1 just three minutes later.

Adi Yona and Atzily both had attempts that were saved by Tenenbaum while Kiryat Shemona took control and tried to find way past Ozer in the box who had to paw away the ball to safety off a free kick as Beitar held on to close out the 2-1 win.

Hapoel Tel Aviv slipped by Ashdod 1-0 as Loizos Loizou scored in the 84th minute as Elyaniv Barda’s team took the points and the win.

Hapoel Head Coach Elyaniv Barda spoke about the win after the game, “This was a real test of our character. This performance wasn’t good enough and we didn’t create enough chances as Ashdod defended well against us. The red card actually brought us into the game. I’m very happy with this win, after the match we went through against Beitar, we brought energy, the crowd lifted the players, we didn’t feel like we were playing with ten men.“

Ashdod bench boss Haim Silvas reflected on the loss, “I don’t think this was a game we should have lost, regardless of the scenario with the red card as we kept Hapoel Tel Aviv to zero chances, we took the game where we wanted it to go. We weren’t sharp in our attacks and lacked the confidence to punish, but this game played out the way we wanted it to, I don’t remember a single chance for Hapoel Tel Aviv. The scenario should have been the opposite.”