Beitar Jerusalem smashed Hapoel Hadera 4-0 as four different goal scores found the back of the goal to hand the yellow-and-black the 3-points and the win. Patrick Twumasi drilled home a free kick to give Beitar the lead in the 7th minute, while Yarden Shua scored a penalty 25 minutes later to head into the break with a commanding 2-0 advantage. Timoti Muzi added insult to injury to give Barak Itzhaki a 3-0 lead as Adi Yona slammed home a rebound in the 70th minute to close out the big victory. Following the game, Hadera head coach Haim Silvas was relieved of his duties and Assaf Nimni was appointed as the club’s new bench boss.

“The was a most important victory,” Beitar head coach Barak Itzhaki began. “We made the game easy, I was sure we were in for a tough game, but the players made it easy with their energy, pace and control. I am very happy. It’s great that we are in first place, I am not going to lie. This hasn’t happened to Beitar in recent years so we have to get used to things like this but we have to remember that it’s very, very early.”

Kiryat Shemona stunned Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 on a late Muhammad Abu Rumi goal which came after each team were awarded penalties but both sides came up short from 11 meters as the northerners took the points and the win.

“We have beaten Maccabi in the past,” Kiryat Shemona bench boss Shay Barda said. “This was an important win and a great one although definitely not the biggest one of my career. We have a group here of guys that want to succeed and they believe in the path that we are taking as well as the fact that the club wants them to continue to develop.”

“I want to offer congratulations to Kiryat Shemona,” Maccabi head coach Zarko Lazetic said. “These things happen, soccer is sometimes a game of life and death. We tried our best to break through as they played with ten players behind the ball. We had a few chances in the second half but we had bad luck on our penalty as Eran Zahavi who is a great penalty taker missed it.”

Maccabi Netanya slipped by Hapoel Jerusalem 3-2 as Igor Zlatanovic scored a brace to help the visitors to the win. Zlatanovic got off to a quick start as he headed home the opening goal in the 7th minute while roughly ten minutes later the star striker found the back of the goal yet again to give the diamond city side a 2-0 lead. Cedric Don cut the lead to 2-1 soon thereafter while Ibeh Ransom found the equalizer in the 51st minute to draw the capital city squad all fair and square. However, Heriberto Tavares slotted home the eventual winning goal in 76th minute to close out the game and snatch the 3-points.

“The points here are the most important thing,” Netanya’s new head coach Yossi Abuksis said following the game. “We had some better minutes and some less so throughout the game. We did some very nice things and overall there were good minutes and the bad minutes that we will work on but in this case, winning is the most important thing.”

“We started the game very badly and gave Netanya everything that shouldn’t be given to a team in their situation,” Jerusalem bench boss Ziv Arie said. “We had some good momentum when the score was 2-2, but we weren’t able to take advantage of the situation. This cost us the game and it’s a shame. We will watch the video, analyze and fix what is necessary.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva eased past Ashdod 3-1 as the southern reds scored a trio of second half goals to notch the win and take the 3-points. After a goalless first half, Matan Baltaxa broke the deadlock from in close right after the break while Kings Kangwa added an insurance marker off a counter attack to give the hosts a 2-0 lead in the 61st minute. Or Blorian’s own goal in the 78th minute pulled Beer Sheva to within a goal but an Alon Turgeman injury time strike sealed the deal for Ron Kozuk’s squad.

“The tactical change at halftime did the job,” a satisfied Kozuk said after the game. “We understood that it was difficult to play through the middle and we lost numerous balls so we decided to play on the wings. I understood that we needed to go after their two central defenders and that’s what we did, I’m glad it quickly turned out to be the right change. Ashdod didn’t surprise me at all, they are an excellent team, physical and strong, they move and the games against them are difficult and that’s why I hurried to make substitutions at halftime. When it’s difficult we have to stand by our principles and play the way we trained.”

This was very, very disappointing,” Ashdod bench boss Eli Levy began. “We got the game back to 2-1 and we looked them in the eye. We controlled the pace of play and to miss four sure goal situations is something we can’t afford. I don’t even know how to say, it was too easy and if you miss these type of chances then you concede easy goals. “

Bnei Sakhnin blanked Maccabi Bnei Reineh 1-0 on a late Matanel Tadisa goal to give the Galilee side the points and the victory.

“In what was our worst game of the season we ended up winning,” Sakhnin coach Slobodan Drapic said. “I don’t know whether we should play well or poorly at this point because somehow in our good games this season we lose points and in our bad games we take points. But we are happy for the victory, which was very important for us after two losses.”

“We started the game extremely well,” Reineh coach Sharon Mimer said after the game. “We completely nullified Bnei Sakhnin and we had to take the lead by halftime. We slowed a bit, but we still dominated the game, however, we conceded on their lone attack in the second half. It’s a shame that we gave up those points. We have accumulated 14 points since the beginning of the season, which is very respectable and we are in the top six and that is what we are looking as well as the next game against Ashdod.”

Maccabi Petach Tikva and Ironi Tiberias played to a dry goalless draw as each team took home a point for their efforts.

“This was a classic game for the lower half of the table,” Tiberias coach Eliran Hodeda began. “Lots of physical battles, but not much soccer. I wouldn’t exaggerate and say it was a game at the level of the second division and there certainly weren’t too many chances to score. Both teams came into the game during a tough stretch and we wanted to stop the negative momentum. We definitely wanted to win, but for that you have to score goals and in the game that developed it was difficult to score.”

“This was a disappointing result,” Pertach Tikva head coach Dan Roman said. “We expected to play a better game, create more situations and get three points, but it didn’t happen. We were very stressed and we didn’t have a good enough flow in the game. We were relatively solid defensively, but in terms of the offensive side, we lacked dynamism and decisiveness.”