Beitar Jerusalem defeated Maccabi Netanya 4-2 as Johnbosco Kalu scored a second half brace while the diamond city side was reduced to 10-men after a red card to Aziz Ouattara easing the capital city squad’s path to the win.

Prior to kickoff, former hostage Rom Braslavski was honored with a pregame ceremony as he also spoke to the 30k fans in attendance as there was nary a dry eye in the crowd as he raised his voice to fever pitch saying Am Yisrael Chai at the top of his lungs.

Beitar Jerusalem went on the attack from the get go and their pressure paid off before the game was even ten minutes old as Yarden Cohen pounded home a Dor Micha back pass to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Johnbosco Kalu almost doubled the advantage with a close range shot that Omer Niron smartly saved while a minute later Adi Yona’s chance came up short as the fans serenaded the yellow-and-black.

Netanya began to turn the tide a bit as Heriberto Tavares had an opportunity that Miguel Silva stopped, Oz Bilu’s chance also came up short while Aziz Ouattara’s free kick just cleared the cross bar as Beitar clung onto a 1-0 advantage at the halftime break.

The diamond city squad came out flying in the second and quickly found the equalizer as Ouattara sent a screamer past Silva to draw Netanya even at 1-1, however, Beitar came right back with Yarden Cohen playing facilitator for Johnbosco Kalu as the striker gave Barak Itzhaki’s team a 2-1 lead in the 54th minute.

Ten minutes later, Ouattara was issued a second yellow card and a red sending him off and leaving Netanya with 10-men for the final half hour of action.

Netanya defender Denis Kulikov headed the ball into his won goal to give Beitar a two-goal lead but an unmarked Bassam Zarora nodded the ball behind Silva to cut the gap once again to just a single goal, 3-2 in favor of the hosts. However, Kalu then put in the insurance goal from the top of the box to put the finishing touches on the victory.

Barak Itzhaki spoke about the win, “We knew that this was not going to be an easy game as Netanya is a very tough team and very dangerous on the counter attacks and we saw that after the opening goal. We lost focus but all in all this was an important win for us as we picked up the points.”

Yossi Abukasis looked back at the defeat, “The first half was one of our best this Eason and we could have decided the game. We did everything right but we couldn’t finish. Unfortunately after we made it 1-1 there were so many fouls and the. The red card that really finished off the game, but we have to now move forward.”

Beitar captain Yarden Shua looked back at the win, “Beitar has been able to hold on to leads which is something that we haven’t done in the past and I’m really proud of the guys. This was no question an important win for us as we continue on our way.”

Maor Levi shared his thoughts, “I’m proud as to how we played and we did a good job for long stretches of the game which was good. We really felt the fans with us here in a packed stadium as we did in our past number of games.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ashdod played to a dramatic 2-2 draw down by the port city. After a day that saw head coach Zarko Lazetic and his staff not show up for the game due to unruly fans setting off fireworks and flares by his home in the middle of the night, youth coach Dan Roman stood on the sidelines and saw the yellow-and-blue fall behind early as Jean Florent Batoum gave the hosts a 1-0 lead ahead of the break. 

Second half substitute Ido Shachar scored a brilliant free kick goal to draw Maccabi even but Ibrahim Diakte’s header found the back of the goal in the 90th minute as a monsoon hit the Yud Alef Stadium. However, as time wound down Sayed Abu Farkhi came off the left flank and scored to earn a dramatic split of the points. 

Maccabi coach Dan Roman said after the match, “We’re a bit disappointed, that’s clear. We feel we deserved more from this game. We created quite a few chances and had good momentum, but that’s football. I’m glad the players showed character and didn’t give up. We managed to equalize twice and that’s what we’ll take from this match.”

Haim Silvas, Ashdod’s coach, said, “It was a very tough match, I have to say very. Maccabi Tel Aviv, especially in the second half, pushed us very far back, created chances, controlled the ball. We knew that our weapons against them would be set pieces and transitions. We managed to create a few of those and we even scored from them.”