Maccabi Tel Aviv closed the gap with Kiryat Shemona to only 2 points as K8 were shocked at home! Beer Sheva played one of their worst matches of the season Maccabi Haifa won the Haifa derby and Beitar Jerusalem finished the round with a 0-0 draw!

Beitar Jerusalem 0-0 Hapoel Raanana

Beitar played their home game at the Moshava Stadium in Petach Tikva in front of 6,500 fans but couldn’t find the back of the goal in a listless 0-0 draw with Raanana. The visitors have now gone 5 straight matches without a win but coach Haim Silvas is optimistic. For Beitar the darw was their 7th in 13 matches to go along with 3 wins and 3 losses good fro 7th place in the table.

Hapoel Haifa 0-4 Maccabi Haifa

Maccabi Haifa officially welcomed back Yossi Benayoun as he scored his first goal since his comeback to Israel after heading in a free kick. Surprisingly the next two goals from Maccabi came off of headers as well by Idan Vered & Marcos Madera Miguel. Shimon Abuhetzeira slotted home the finale as Hapoel Haifa will take their tails and head back to the drawing board. The first thing that may occur is Reuven Atar being replaced as manager, time will tell.

Hapoel Petach Tikva 1-3 Maccabi Tel Aviv

Petach Tikva opened the acronym shocking the defending champions in the 5th minute on a brilliant strike by Shachar Hirsch. But that was all from the home side as Maccabi Tel Aviv scored three unanswered goals on a brace by Eran Zahavi which included a penalty goal plus an absolute GOALAZO by Maharan Radi. Radi, who has not been a main cog in coach Pako Ayestaran’s machine did what he needed to do when the chance to start presented itself. Dan Einbinder also saw time in the 2nd half coming back from injury and making his debut this season. Keeper Juan Pablo was substituted at halftime by Barack Levy as his nagging hand injury is still lingering.

Kiryat Shemona 2-2 Hapoel Akko

Table leaders Kiryat Shemona offered free entrance to its supporters Saturday evening and were entertained when the home club scored two goals to take a 2-0 lead. Ofir Mizrachi & David Manga slotted home goals, however it was Hamdi Salihi who came to the rescue for Alon Harazi’s side cutting the lead to one and then Raz Stain slotted the equalizer home to steal a point in arguably the toughest stadium to play in Ligat Ha’Al.

Bnei Sakhnin 2-0 Hapoel Beer Sheva

Bnei Sakhnin played a perfect game against 2nd place Beer Sheva and gave new manager Eli Cohen a 2-0 win in his debut as Sakhnin coach. Feras Magharbeh scored a penalty in the 1st half and Muhamed Ghadir made it 2-0 in the 2nd frame as the home side stifled Elyanic Barda, Shlomi Arbeitman and Maor Bozaglo.

Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-2 Maccabi Petach Tikva

Hapoel Tel Aviv’s woes continued losing yet again to former coach Ran Ben Shimon in a home game played in Netanya due to ten radius ban level down on the Reds due to the Derby Chaos. Tel Aviv struck first with Lucas Sahsa scoring but the Luzon owned club received 2nd half goals by Gidi Kanuk & Oz Peretz to take the 3 points.

Maccabi Netanya 0-0 Ashdod

Nir Klinger and his Ashdod squad went up to Netanya and came away with a draw after Larry Kayode’s good goal was disallowed on an incorrect offside call. Eran Levy also came close off a corner kick but these were no goals to be found on Saturday afternoon at they Netanya stadium.