Beitar Jerusalem defeated Maccabi Bnei Reineh 3-1 as the yellow-and-black scored a trio of unanswered goals as the captain Yarden Shua scored a penalty and added an assist in the win. Antonio Sefer opened the scoring for Reineh with an 18th minute penalty, but Shua drew Beitar even at 1-1 via the spot deep into first half injury time. As the two sides played tight football in the second half, Omer Atzily nodded in a perfect pass from Shua late in the game while Johnbosco Kalu fired the third goal into the net to give Beitar the victory and the 3-points.

Barak Itzhaki spoke about the hard earned win, “Of course it’s fun to win. Lately, even in wins, there have been tense moments. It’s important to know how to take points especially in the tougher periods. In the first half, which wasn’t as good, we still controlled the game but didn’t find solutions or create enough chances. In the second half, I saw there was hardly any threat from the opponent, so I decided to put Ziv Ben Shimon as a defensive midfielder and bring on more attacking types of players.”

Slobodan Drapic, on the losing side, said at the end of the match, “No one wants to feel the way I did when Atzili scored the comeback goal with that header. It was a tough feeling. I expected my players to play better football and we should’ve kept the ball a bit more. We could’ve taken a point, it’s a shame, but Beitar were better.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv slipped by Hapoel Haifa 1-0 as Roy Korine scored the long goal of the game in the 84th minute to hand the reds the 3-points and the win at Bloomfield Stadium. The hosts poured on the offense throughout the first half but couldn’t find a way past the stingy Carmel reds defense. The visitors had a chance to take the lead against the run of play, but Tamir Arbel’s penalty was smartly saved by Assaf Tzur as he dove to his left to keep the match goalless.

Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Elyaniv Barda made wholesale substitutions as Roy Korine scored the decisive goal off of the bench as he took a long ball from Andrian Kraev, dribbled and unleashed a left footed stunner past a helpless Niv Atman to hand the reds the win.

Elyaniv Barda spoke about the victory, “We have plenty of work to do. We played a very good opponent and we created a ton of chances but we didn’t have what we really needed in the last third of the pitch. We had many opportunities and with that amount of opportunities we should have easily scored a number of goals. We could have lost the game on the penalty but we were able to come through.” 

Hapoel Haifa bench boss Gal Arel also spoke about the game, “My disappointment is a 10 on the scale of 1/10. We can take the game and split up the halves as the first was more defensive minded and the second we took some chances on counters. Arbel is our first option taking penalty kicks and it just didn’t work out in this game.” 

The Man of the Match Roy Korine commented, “It’s amazing to score and when I wasn’t playing this past month due to an injury I was thrilled for the team but it’s never easy to just be sitting there, so to comeback today with the winner is really amazing.”

Bnei Sakhnin held Maccabi Tel Aviv to a goalless draw at Doha Stadium as the teams split the points. Glid Otanga picked up an early red card on a reckless tackle on Ido Shahar reducing the hosts to ten men, but Sharon Mimer’s team was able to hold the yellow-and-blue off.

As the game hit second half injury time, Sakhnin keeper Mohammed Abu Nil was sent off after his challenge for the ball with Tyrese Asante which was good for a penalty. Defender Eyad Abu Abaid moved into goal for the penalty but Sagiv Yehezkel’s weak spot kick hit the post as Sakhnin was able to hold on to take a point for their efforts.

“They defended well, congratulations to them for their performance,” a disappointed Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Zarko Lazetic began. “We were rash in our decisions in the first half, what happened afterwards you saw. We got a point from the game and we will learn the lesson. It is very difficult to find the spaces on this pitch, the grass was in very bad condition and in such games you have to score from set pieces or clear chances.”

Sharon Mimer also spoke about the game, “Sometimes there are emotions of a game. Let everyone be clear, I never complain about refereeing errors but sometimes I feel like I don’t get the same treatment and respect as the other team. Immediately, the trigger quick against smaller teams and not as harsh against big teams. We want to get the treatment we deserve, we’re from the same league. We want to feel like we get equal treatment, not necessarily in this game but in every game.”

Ironi Tiberias blanked Hapoel Petach Tikva 2-0 as a pair of second half goals by the visitors snagged the points. Following a goalless first half, both sides were handed red cards as each team lost a man due to reckless tackles, however, that didn’t bother Elliran Hodeida’s squad as Guy Hadida scored off a free kick and Stanislav Bilenkyi added a late insurance marker to help Tiberias record their second win of the season.

Hodeida talked about the win following the game, “After three tough recent games with results we’re not used to, it was important to win, change our mindset and restore confidence in the players as we played good football. I’m very happy about the three points.”

Hapoel Petah Tikva coach Omer Peretz also spoke about the match from his point of view, “In football, anything can happen. It was not a great game from us. We should have controlled the pace of the game, but we got dragged into their rhythm. Tiberias came here pressing man-to-man, we didn’t have time on the ball to calm the game down.”

Maccabi Netanya downed Hapoel Jerusalem 2-1 as the diamond city side mounted a second half comeback to snatch the points. Ilay Madmon scored the opening goal with a long strike in the 39th minute to give the capital city reds a 1-0 lead at the break. But Wilson Harris headed home the equalizer in the 74th minute while Matheus Davo added Netanya’s second goal 14 minutes later from inside the box to wrap up the win.

Yossi Abukasis spoke about the victory, “We were sharper in the second half but it was a tight game. Even though we didn’t threaten the goal directly, we did create some dangerous situations. In the second half, we went back to playing with three centerbacks and with two strikers in the box as we loaded up the area and that’s how we made the comeback.”

Hapoel Jerusalem Head Coach Ziv Arie also spoke about the game, “I hope this country will have a much better year. As for the match there were good moments and some bad ones as well. This is the third time we’ve led and ended up losing.”

Ashdod sunk Kiryat Shemona 2-0 as Eugene Ansah scored a brace to help the port city side to the win. Adrian Ugarizza found the back of the goal first to give the visitors a 1-0, but it didn’t last to long as Ansah nodded home the typing goal and then beat Kiryat Shemona keeper Daniel Tenenbaum for a second time to help Haim Silvas’s squad to the win.

Haim Silvas spoke about the win, “It was hard to come into this after the past two weeks. Even for me, personally as a coach, it’s very unpleasant to feel this way. We knew any game could be the one to get us out of it and we came here with a clear goal, to get points. We fell behind, but came back with a lot of character.”

Kiryat Shemona Head Coach Shay Barda spoke about the game from his viewpoint, “We started the game excellently, but it’s happening to us too often that we concede quickly and that’s something we need to look into. This isn’t the number of points I wanted to have at this stage, but that’s the reality. We weren’t focused when they scored the equalizer. We’ll need to fix that and see where we can do things better.”