Maccabi Haifa defeated Hapoel Ramat Gan 2-1 as Bruninho scored a brace to help the Green to the season opening victory as they will now ready for a date with Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Classico at Bloomfield Stadium next Monday night.

The Greens applied all kinds of pressure early on as they kept penetrating into the box with Kenji Gorre doing as he pleased but Jelle Bataille chance went off the right post and Eitan Azulay’s shot whistled by the left post and went out.

But out of nowhere’s Bruninho sent a stunner just to the left of the box and from 30 meters out that easily beat the Ramat Gan keeper Amit Reef into the top right hand corner for a well deserved 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute. Gorre’s sharp angled shot was saved, Bruninho’s attempt went wide right while at the other end Idan Baranes’s header just sailed over the bar as the half came to an end with the hosts holding the 1-0 advantage.

It didn’t take long for Haifa to add a second marker as Silva Kani made his way into the box, got the ball to Bruninho who again sent a screamer into the top right hand corner of the goal to take a 2-0 lead in the 46th minute. David Asanka had a pair of close chances to cut the lead but came up short, but Maxim Plakushenko slotted home the ball off a counter to pull the visitors to 2-1 in the 61st minute.

Ramat Gan kept pushing forward as both sides made wholesale substitutions, Azulay sent a left footed shot onto Reef’s goal that the keeper was able parry away just in the nick of time but a foul on Andrija Novakovich in the box resulted in a penalty for Haifa. Azulay’s spot kick and ensuing rebound attempt missed the mark but no matter, the Greens held on to take the win.

Haifa Head Coach Barak Bachar summed up the win, “It was a good game for us and we scored a goal on each half. We shouldn’t have conceded and we were under pressure near the end, but we moved to three central defenders that helped us out. We are still working on our squad and we are working with what we have right now so some players my not be in their usual positions. We have to prove that we are better than what we saw in the Toto Cup and we had a veteran lineup out there.”

Ramat Gan Head Coach Messay Dego spoke about his first game back in Haifa since he was their bench boss back a few years ago, “It was great to comeback to this stadium and to see the fans which was exciting and it was something that I really had looked forward to. I worked with our guys all week about what it’s like to play at Sammy Ofer Stadium and we just weren’t there for the opening half hour. We began to finally play after that and we were able to score and control the game but we came up short.”

Ironi Tiberias slipped by Hapoel Petach Tikva 1-0 as Itamar Shviro scored the lone goal of the match from the penalty spot in the 51st minute to take the 3-points and the win.

Tiberias Head Coach Alon Ziv summed up the victory, “I expected and hoped that we would win. On the pitch, we saw that it was very dramatic. It wasn’t great football, but the guys showed tremendous commitment. Don’t forget that we started the season very late and everyone deserves enormous credit. We are all together from the first second until the end. It was important to show that from the opening game.”

Petach Tikva bench boss Omer Peretz shared his thoughts, “It wasn’t a good start to the league for us. We conceded on their first chance and we needed to be more alert. We have to keep this game alive until the very last second. As for our squad, we started building it late and it’s still not complete. We still don’t look good and we’re not creating enough chances. I hope we can soon find solutions.”

Maccabi Petach Tikva outclassed Kiryat Shemona 2-1 as a pair of first half goals by Samuel Owusu and Marko Rakonjac were able to hold up after Adrian Ugarriza’s second half strike cut the lead in half as the newly promoted club took the win and the points.