Bnei Reineh stunned Beitar Jerusalem 4-1 in what was supposed to be a festive welcome to the yellow-and-black’s new signing Omer Atzily in front of a packed Teddy Stadium in the capital city but it was Saar Fadida with a brace and the visitors who stole the show. The game couldn’t have started any better for the hosts as Atzily scored a 6th minute penalty to send the supporters into euphoria, however, form that moment on it was all downhill.

However, just a minute later Saar Fadida silenced the crowd as he headed home the equalizer. Beitar’s Jean Marcelin was issued a red card in the 35th minute for a reckless tackle which left the hosts with only 10 men for the balance of the game giving Sharon Mimer’s team a chance to capitalize with the extra player which is what they did just minutes later. Sambinha scored from in close off a corner kick just ahead of the break and immediately after halftime, Fadida slotted home his second goal of the game for a 3-1 lead. Deep into second half injury time, Sayed Abu Farhki added a fourth marker to close out the dominating win and take the 3-points in front of a disappointed Beitar fanbase.

“There’s no doubt that the early penalty that Beiter with all the craziness going on could have led this game down an entirely different path,” Mimer said following the game. “But again we showed the character that we always have here, we scored early and put a bit of a damper on Beitar. We played one of our best games here and while it ended 4-1 it could have even finished better.”

“We started well, there was an incredible atmosphere here with the crowd and everything was going well,” Beitar Head Coach Barak Itzhaki began. “But as has happened more than once this year, we knew how to totally come apart at the seams with the red card as our defensive game wasn’t good enough. Everyone was going crazy after the last game and I tried to calm them down. We need to see what didn’t work properly and fix it as it can’t be that in a home game like this the visitors are able to control the play. We can’t concede four goals at home even against 10 players.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ironi Tiberias played to an entertaining 2-2 draw as the two sides split the points by the Kineret. After a quiet opening 44 minutes of play, Dor Turgeman was tripped up in the box and slotted home his penalty to the right of the keeper for a 1-0 lead at the halftime break. The yellow-and-blue doubled the advantage less than a minute into the second half when Nemanja Stojic scored from in close to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. However, less than 10 minutes later Basam Zaarura cut the lead to 2-1 and Haroon Shapso found the equalizer in injury time to take a well earned point.

Maccabi Head Coach Zarko Lazetic who was serving a one game ban spoke about the disappointing draw, “It was difficult and tough to watch the game from the stands. In the first half we played well and took the lead, but then we did not assess the situation properly we were punished. We concede a lot of goals from set pieces, it is a big problem and it happens in football. We lost the points and it is our fault.”

Tiberias bench boss Eliran Hodeida also reflected on game, “We started the game poorly, we were a little bit insecure, but we found our confidence as the game continue don. At 2-0, we still believed that we could come back and we even dominated Maccabi Tel Aviv, as crazy as it sounds. I believe that we deserved the point. We are a strong team on set pieces and we knew that Maccabi lacked confidence in this area and had conceded a lot of set pieces this season.”

Maccabi Haifa crushed slumping Kiryat Shemona 4-1 as Dia Sada scored a brace to help the hosts take the 3-points and the win. The Greens started the game off flying and could have taken am early via Saba but the striker missed his 18th minute penalty, however, less than 20 minutes later Dolev Haziza slotted home his spot kick after Kenny Saeif had been pulled down in the box to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Saba doubled the advantage in the 38th minute as he took advantage of a defensive mistake, while the same Saba added his second of the game just before the halftime break to give Barak Bachar’s team a 3-1 lead. Jardel pulled a goal back for the visitors in the 64th minute but veteran goal getter Lior Refaelov put the cherry on top to wrap up the 4-1 win.

“We are in a period of time where everything has been tough for us,” Bachar said after the win. “We started off really well and then we pressured them. In the second half we got ourselves into a little bit of trouble but in this game we saw tremendous teamwork and fight.”

Kiryat Shemona coach Shai Barda shared his thoughts, “After the game I told the team what I have been telling them for two weeks now – sometimes there are situations that are going to be a bit difficult. At first we made mistakes and at 0-0 we missed a 100% goal situation and then we conceded two penalties. As a coach you have to take care of moments like this.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva slipped by Hapoel Haifa 1-0 as Paul Garita’s 82nd minute strike gave the southern reds the 3-points and the win.

“This is how I expected from this game against a good team, so we knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Beer Sheva coach Ron Kozuk said. “I’m glad we knew how to get through this game and take the points, there are many things that I’m happy about. We have a lot of hunger and the desire to constantly improve and win tough games which is what we did here.”

“I’m proud of the players and the team, there are fighters here, good players,” Haifa coach Roni Levy began. “I like these guys and trust them. Our situation right now from a professional standpoint, from my perspective, is very dangerous as we only have 14-15 roster players, two are injured, two have finished the season and we started the season with a very short roster. So right now we don’t have players for training either and there are no options. We are doing the maximum.”

Maccabi Netanya overwhelmed Bnei Sakhnin 4-0 as Igor Zlatanovic scored a hat-trick to help Ypssi Abuksis’s team to the win and the 3-points. Zlatanovic scored his first goal off a corner kick and put home his second via a penalty in first half stoppage time. Mohammed Dejeti gave the diamond city side a 3-0 lead while Zlatanovic scored in the 82nd minute to complete the blowout win at the Netanya Stadium.

“We improved our play, Netanya bench boss Yossi Abuksis said. “The players are very committed, disciplined, organized and when you do these things, you will reap the benefits. This was one of our best games this season but we still had a lot of shortcomings, however, this indicates that we are a healthy team, when even if there are shortcomings, we manage to play well and win.”

Sakhnin coach Slobodan Drapic spoke about the loss, “We conceded too many easy goals and we easily lost this game which is annoying. We managed to take a few steps forward but we’ve once again taken a few steps backwards.”

Maccabi Petach Tikva blanked Hapoel Jerusalem 2-0 as Anas Mahmid scored a second half brace to give the hosts the 3-points.

Petach Tikva head coach Tamir Luzon, commented on his team’s play, “This game gives me a lot of encouragement. We’ve been waiting for this type of victory in the league for a long time and I hope it will give us a boost and some confidence. We worked as a team and less as individuals we saw that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

“This was not a fun game for us,” Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie said. “We completely dominated the game and a 0-0 draw would have reflected what went on here but we made a mistake as usual and we didn’t react to the mistake well and that was that.”

Ashdod and Hapoel Hadera drew 1-1 to split the points by the port city. Roie Levy gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 65th minute but a handball in the box allowed Dan Einbinder to find the later equalizer as both teams left with a point a piece.