Hapoel Akko 2-1 Hapoel Tel Aviv

Last night we saw a first as Hapoel Tel Aviv lost to Akko for the first time ever 2-1 on a nice clear evening in the northern city. Goal machine Omer Damari scored Tel Aviv’s lone strike of the night in the first half, but Yuval Naim’s club did not lay down and play dead as Juliano Spadaccia scored a brilliant laser beam of a goal in the 67th minute and Yosef Asayag put in his 7th goal of the season for the winner in the 83rd minute. HTA coach Ran Ben Shimon was shaking his head after the loss as his team was not able to get anything going against the upstart Akko charges.

Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-1 Hapoel Beer Sheva

Maccabi Tel Aviv exacted revenge on 2nd place Beer Saheva winning handily at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv. Referee Menashe Mashiach issued a red card to HBS youngster Ben Algrabli in the 7th minute and called for a penalty kick which Austine Ejide saved at the last second off of Eran Zahavi’s foot and the rest was clinical for Maccabi. Already up 1-0 after a Rada Prica goal after just 3 minutes, being a man up was icing on the cake as Carlos Garcia scored is team’s second off a corner at the stroke of halftime and Barack Yitzhaki added the third in the 66th minute. Glynor Plet scored a goal of the year candidate in the 34th minute to temporarily tie up the match but Garcia’s second in as many games gave Maccabi the lead for good.

Maccabi Haifa 3-1 Hapoel Raanana

Haifa took control of this match very early as Ruben Rayos completed a brace by the 31st minute to keep his team in the race for a European spot. Rayos scored in the 16th minute and then on a penalty in the 31st minute, with the Raanana offense mustering only a give & go goal by Reef Mesika in minute 58. For good measure Alan Turgeman added a 93rd minute insurance goal and hand the Greens the 3 points before their big game next week at Teddy Stadium against Beitar Jerusalem.

Bnei Yehuda 0-0 Beitar Jerusalem

Both teams lulled each other to sleep for much of this game and it was referee Eitan Shmuelivitz that woke everyone up after he blatantly missed a 110% hand ball in the bix by Bnei Yehuda which could have given Beitar a penalty kick. After the non-call Beitar began to press to secure a winning strike, to no avail as they walked away from Bloomfield stadium splitting the points with bottom feeder club Bnei Yehuda.

Hapoel Ramat HaSharon 0-1 Bnei Sakhnin

Bnei Sakhnin finally picked up a victory it’s first in five games as Dedi Ben Dayan scored the lone goal of the match in the 88th minute. The win secured Sakhnin 3 points to keep them in 3rd position. The first half saw great chances by both clubs including a number by Kenny Seif of RHS. The 2nd frame was weaker but Muhamed Calibat was able to get they ball to Ben Dayan who scored his X of the year that was good for the win.

Ashdod 2-0 Maccabi Petach Tikva

After 80 minutes of scoreless football, Maroan Kabaa was shown red after pulling down Bentzi Moshal from behind and then the hosts got their chances to take the win. In the 86th minute Moshal scored and in the 94th new foreign signing Gaeten Varenne put away his first good enough for a 2-0 at the port city.

Kiryat Shemona 2-0 Hapoel Haifa

Two goals in the first half for the Northern club gained the 3 points and new/old striker Weam Amasha entered the match in the 80th minute. Goals by Kassio Fernandes and Ofir Mizrahi sent Hapoel Haifa reeling as their drop in the standings continues and Kiryat Shemona keeps ganimg on the top teams on the table.