Beitar Jerusalem slipped by Hapoel Haifa 2-1 as both teams lost players to red cards while the yellow-and-black held on to take the win by the skin of their teeth. Almog Cohen’s team came out flying and took a quick lead via Eugene Ansah as he scored off the left flank while Haim Silvas’s side lost Yaad Gonen after a reckless foul on Timoti Muzie.

With the extra man, Omer Atzily doubled the score but right before the break Brayan Carabali was sent off after pulling down Arial Mendy as the last man towards the goal. Yarden Shua missed a penalty while Willima Agada did the same on the other side but he put in his own rebound to cut the lead to 2-1 but that was as close as the Carmel Reds would get as Beitar closed out the win.

Almog Cohen talked about the win, “The first half was excellent; we created a lot of chances. After the red card, we were a little nervous and it took us some time to find the right timing, but after that we created plenty of opportunities. We’re very happy with the win and happy that a little more pressure has been lifted off of our shoulders, so we can show the kind of football we want to play. In the first two games, we received criticism and rightly so. But I think that in the last two games the team has been aggressive and dynamic. We maintained that intensity even after the red card and unfortunately, with a silly mistake, we let Hapoel Haifa back into the game. But the tougher the win is, then the sweeter it is.

Haim Silvas shared his thoughts on the loss, “It’s strange to say it but our start was pretty good and and Beitar was unable to move the ball, but then there was a through ball that we paid a prove on plus the red card and we paid an even heftier price on. We then gave up another goal, but we fought hard, got a goal and we knew that we would play up until the last moments of the game but just came up short.”

Tomer Yosefi looked back at the victory, “The most important thing is that we showed up for the game and played well. In the final minutes, we were a little under pressure because of the red card and the pressure of the game. We didn’t want to concede, but in the end we did. I’m sure we’ll improve; from game to game, you can see a better team here. As for the pressure at Beitar, it’s something different. We have an incredible crowd here that pushes us every game. We’re happy that they’re behind us like this; it’s very important for us. They were with us, we won and now we look ahead.”

Naor Sabag also spoke about the game, “The game began well, but the goal and read card really hurt us but we stayed together and it’s too bad we weren’t able to tie the game up. We really felt that we would not come out of this game with a loss but we just came up short. We played against three big teams and while we played well we came out with 2/9 points but we will work hard during the break and get back to action after the break.”

Beitar began the game by pressing high trying to force Haifa into a mistake as they produced a number of early chances that finally paid off when Omer Atzily sent Eugene Ansah a perfect through ball that the winger easily slotted by keeper Yoav Gerafi to the far side of the goal for a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute. Ansah tried to double the score as he teamed up with Shon Weissman but was stymied on the attack but just minutes later a rough tackle by Yaad Gonen on Timoti Muzie resulted in a red card leaving the Carmel Reds with ten men in the 17th minute.

With a man to the good, Beitar kept pushing forward as they swung the ball from the left side to the right where Tomer Yosefi was waiting to pass the ball off to Omer Atzily who sliced the ball behind Gerafi for a 2-0 lead in the 32nd minute. However, just ahead of the break and with the yellow-and-black seemingly in cruise control, Brayan Carabali pushed down Arial Mendy as he made his way towards the goal and was issued a red card for his efforts leaving both sides with ten men for the second half.

Haifa looked to try and get back into the game as they were able to close in on the Beitar box multiple times but were unable to find the target as Beitar head coach Almog Cohen decided to freshen up his lineup with a number of substitutes including captain Yarden Shua who came on in the 57th minute. Yosefi had a terrific chance after a defensive miscue but missed the far post, but a fantastic through ball by Shua found Atzily who was pulled down in the box by Ivan Kricak but the captain missed the penalty keeping the score as is.

Shua missed a header after a fine cross from Atzily, on the other side Alon Turgeman’s chance came up short while Shua’s ball was just pawed to safety by Gerafi as Alexis Serna made his debut for Beitar. However, Liel Deri tripped up Cheickna Diakité in the area leading to a William Agada penalty that was saved by keeper Miguel Silva but allowed the striker to score off of the rebound as Haifa cut the lead to 2-1 in the 82nd minute.

Daniel Worko and Johnbosco Kalu each had brilliant chances but came up empty, while Naor Sabag and Kricak had cracks on goal but missed their opportunities as Beitar hung on to take the win.