Beitar Jerusalem and Bnei Sakhnin drew 1-1 in dramatic fashion as Amir Berkowitz’s 90th minute goal earned in a split of the points for the capital city squad. Sakhnin took a 1-0 lead thanks to a Zahi Ahmed penalty in the 13th minute, but Berkovits found the last gasp equalizer to take a point at Teddy Stadium.

“When you tie the game up in the 90th minute it’s sure better than a loss,” Beitar coach Yossi Abuksis said. “But I am disappointed in the start of the game where we made many mistakes. We have plenty of issues that we are trying to find solutions to as we are also attention to sign some players. However, I am not going to lie to anyone, we are just not good enough and we are trying to find the right balance.”

“If the players felt that they could have done more then we felt that we could have taken more than a point,” Sakhnin coach Slobodan Drapic explained. “After the way we began this game we really should have done better. We have many young players and we are building something new here with guys who have not played in the top league and we are trying to gain confidence and experience game by game.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva overwhelmed Maccabi Petach Tikva 4-1 as the southern Reds scored four unanswered goals to take the away win. The hosts couldn’t have started the game off any better as Yarden Cohen picked off an errant pass and sent it to Saliou Guindo who scored from in close to give Petach Tikva a 1-0 lead in the 2nd minute.

A shell-shocked Beer Sheva looked to get back into the game which took quite some time, but once they drew even with just over 20 minutes left in regulation time the floodgates opened for Elyaniv Barda’s squad. Niv Fliter scored in the 68th minute from the top of the box, which was followed up by a Rotem Hatuel header to take the lead while Alon Turgeman and Miguel Vitor also found the back of the goal to take the stunning victory.

“There was a lot of pressure that was released after three poor results,” Barda began. “We gave up an early goal but we played properly and how I wanted to see us perform. That is very true with how we played in the second half. The guys knew how to bring the energy in an unideal situation but we focused on the game and we came together united for this win.”

“We came to play, we wanted this and we pressed,” Petach Tikva coach Benny Lam said. “But we fell apart and mentally broke down. This can’t happen, against a team like Beer Sheva or Hadera. We must deal with the mental side of our game and we have to lift ourselves up.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Bnei Reineh 2-1 as the Reds scored a pair of goals in the first half to take the 3-points. Omer Senior broke the ice early on after taking advantage of keep Gad Amos’s 17th minute error to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. Omri Altman doubled the advantage with a 41st minute penalty as Hapoel went into the break with a 2-0 lead. Roie Shukrani pulled a goal back in the 52nd minute, but that was as close as the hosts would get.

“The team worked very hard as they came into this away game and played a good team,” Hapoel coach Borja Lema began. “We deserved this win and the 3-points as we casein well., played together and scored. We took the lead and felt confident as we came out of the game with the points in what was arguably our best game.”

“We didn’t play well in the first half and Hapoel scored two lucky goals without even taking a shot,” Reineh coach Sharon Mimer said. “The mistake by Gad Amos is something that can happen and we owe him a lot so far this season. The second mistake was a penalty that just wasn’t. You could see our quality in the seance half and we had plenty of chances.”

Hapoel Hadera slipped by Hapoel Petach Tikva 1-0 as Tamir Glazer headed home a 84th minute goal to take the 3-points and the win.

“We are very content to have earned 3-points,” Hadera coach Niso Avitan said. “These were two totally different halves with Petach Tikva being very dangerous in the first while we were better in the second. We controlled the pace of play while creating many chances and finally we scored.”

“This was a disappointing result,” Petach Tikva coach Ofer Tesselpepe said. “We were terrific in the first half and had four great chances, one of which was a certain goal. It’s too bad because if we would have been able to control the dynamics for the entire game the result could have been different.”

Ashdod blanked Hapoel Jerusalem 2-0 by the port city as a pair of second half goals gave the hosts the win. After a goalless first half, Ravid Abergil scored from in close to give Ashdod a 1-0 lead while Ebenezer Mamatah doubled the advantage with an incredible solo effort to take the 3-points.

“We are going through a process which has been good thus far,” Ashdod coach Eli Levy commented. “We still have some players who will be coming back from injury which will make us an even better team. We did incredible tactical work in this game, we were better and we won. We have come back from the break in good shape and we want to continue this way.”

“Yet another game that we didn’t deserve to lose and I hate to say it,” Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie began. “We had a very good second half and then we gave up a goal from out of nowhere. We have been unlucky and nothing is going the way that it should for us as we are still looking for a win.”