Maccabi Tel Aviv cruised past Hapoel Jerusalem 5-2 as Dor Peretz scored a hat trick to help the yellow-and-blue to the 3-points and the win ahead of their UEFA Conference League second leg showdown against Lugano for a play in the league stage of the competition. Vitalie Damascan opened the scoring in the first minute of the match when he took the ball and turned in the middle of the box and beat the keeper Ofek Meilika for a quick 1-0 reds lead after just 37 seconds of play. However, Roy Revivo found the equalizer via a header and Peretz put home a penalty as Maccabi headed into the with a 2-1 advantage.

Peretz added his second goal of the game in the second half as he stabbed in a Helio Varela cross for a 3-1 lead while Sayed Abu Farchi scored as well and the aforementioned Peretz put home his third of the game for a trio of markers and the first hat trick of the season. Maccabi keeper Ofek Melika was issued a red card when he went outside of the box for a play that ended with the shot stopped tripping up an opposition play. Abu Farchi was selected to put on the keepers kit and he did so with pride conceding a lone goal to Ohad Almagor as Maccabi took the 5-2 win.

“We conceded an early goal and responded the way we should have,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Kenny Miller said. “In the second half, we saw some very, very nice goals scored. At 5–1, we should have defended better after the sending-off. It was a difficult game for us. We’re in the middle of a demanding run of matches, away from home and we’re putting in very, very good performances. I also want to praise the fans for their wonderful support. They were there from the very first second.”

Hapoel Jerusalem Head Coach Lior Zada reflected on his team’s performance, “We need to analyze the match. We started the contest really well with a very early goal and it was an evenly matched game. After that, Maccabi Tel Aviv took control and scored two goals at crucial moments. I think we made good adjustments at halftime, but then we conceded a goal on the counterattack. From there, those are minutes that I need to understand, watch and analyze, because I felt that the period after the third goal wasn’t good and raised a lot of red flags.”

The man of the match, Dor Peretz, also shared his thoughts, “It’s a great feeling to do this here after last season, which was really special for me. I hope we can stop conceding the easy goals we’ve been allowing. It’s a team effort, not just the defense, it’s all of us. We need to make sure we start games level and don’t fall behind early. We knew how to respond very quickly. The first half was a little flat in terms of energy, but fortunately the result was excellent.”