Beitar Jerusalem slipped by Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-0 as Johnbosco Kalu’s first half goal held up against a ten-man reds team that saw El Yam Kancepolsky sent off for a reckless tackle on Boris Enow. The rough and tumble win kept the yellow-and-black in first place by a point over Hapoel Beer Sheva while Hapoel fell for the first time this season at Bloomfield Stadium.

Barak Itzhaki spoke about the victory, “We were in control of the game before the red card and after it but in the second half Hapoel really played well and created plenty of chances. You can see why they haven’t lost this season at home until now. This was a huge win for us and very important. It may not have been the most beautiful win but it’s a win and we took the points.”

Elyaniv Barda reflected in the loss, “I don’t think that the red card really made a difference as we were stronger and had more chances in the second half. We were able to pressure Beitar and we created chances but you also have to score. This was a very good game from us, but we gave up a goal on a turnover and that was that. It’s very disappointing that we lost at home and we wanted to do something special but it’s not the end of the world.”

 

Johnbosco Kalu looked back at the win, “I know this was a great feeling, the fans have supported us from the beginning and it’s a good feeling to score the goal. Everything comes from playing week after week and the coach believes in me. To win the championship there are still lot of games ahead and it’s not the end of the season. Every game from now is a final for us. We will keep playing tough.”

Turiel spoke about the defeat, “It’s disappointing but we also showed a lot of character after the red card. We did what we could and hopefully we will start up a new streak. It was tough to see Gadrani save the ball off of the line but we will continue on.”

Other than flares and fireworks from the Hapoel Tel Aviv fans there were very few chances early on save for an Atzily chance in the box that was taken care of by the reds keeper Asaf Tzur. Stav Turiel’s free kick missed the mark at the other end at the quarter hour mark, Boris Enow was issued a yellow card for a reckless tackle while Kalu’s chance inside the area went wide of the goal as the match remained goalless after 25 minutes.

An active Turiel went into the box and sent a tremendous chance just wide of the left post, while just minutes later El Yam Kanespolsky brutal cleats up tackle on Enow earned him a red card to reduce Hapoel to ten men in the 30th minute. Luka Gadrani also picked up a yellow card soon thereafter as the rough and tumble extracurricular activities made it difficult for any type of consistent flow of play to take place.

Turiel’s free kick was easily caught by Miguel Silva, while Johnbosco Kalu’s low liner was saved by Tzur but just ahead of the break Kalu worked his magic to put Beitar in front as he stripped the ball off of Chico and went in all alone as he slotted the ball past the helpless reds keeper to give Beitar Jerusalem a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Yarden Shua’s opportunity to begin the second half went wide of the goal, while at the other end Brayan Carabali picked up Beitar’s third yellow card of the match. Gadrani’s header off Shua free kick missed the goal while the aforementioned Shua gave Yarden Cohen a nice pass at the top left of the box but his shot missed to the right of the goal to keep the score as is in the 60th minute.

Hapoel began to push for the equalizer as Loizos Loizou and Emmanuel Boateng teamed up inside the box but the latter’s attempt missed the goal, Turiel beat Carbali and the keeper Silva but Gadrani cleared the ball off the line while Turiel got the ball to a wide open Loizou but the Cypriot put the ball over the bar in the 70th minute.

Barak Itzhaki made a pair of substitutions with Dor Micha and Gonzalez coming on to freshen up the yellow-and-black lineup, while Kalu picked up a yellow card as well as Gonzalez and then Cohen as the game began to slow down with time ticking off of the clock. Both sides continued to make personnel changes as the game went into injury time while Grigori Morozov also picked up a yellow just before the referee blew the final whistle to end the game.