Maccabi Haifa slipped by Hapoel Hadera 1-0 after keeper Josh Cohen saved a Menashe Zalka penalty in the 96th minute to take the 3-points. The Greens took the lead in the 73rd minute when Frantzdy Pierrot redirected a Mavis Tschibota ball in the box, but Hadera were awarded a penalty deep into second half stoppage time after a foul in the box. However, Zalka’s spot kick was easily saved by Cohen as Haifa claimed the maximum points and the win to stay close to Maccabi Tel Aviv on the table.

“After controlling the game for 99% of the time it would have been very disappointing to give up a penalty goal right at the end,” Haifa coach Barak Bachar said. “In soccer anything can happen and at the end of the day the most important thing is that we won. Playing against Hadera was tough with how they defended and we could have easily conceded which was almost the case.”

“We tried to get a result and we played a tactical game where we were very responsible,” Hadera coach Asaf Nimni said. “We made no mistakes on a tactical level and we did exactly what we worked on all week long. Our goal is to stay in the league.”

Haifa keeper Josh Cohen spoke about his heroics, “I do my homework and some times it works. We played well but the penalty could have changed the entire game so it’s a great feeling to save it. We took the 3-points and there were things we could do better but we won and now we move on.”

Hapoel Jerusalem took care of struggling Maccabi Netanya 2-0 as Cedric Don scored a late brace to give the Reds the 3-points on the road. Following a goalless first half, Don came off the right flank and beat Itamar Nitzan to make it 1–0 in the 81st minute while he scored his second deep into injury time to double the advantage and take the points.

“I want to really commend Maccabi Netanya as they were very tough to play against,” Ziv Arie, the Hapoel Jerusalem coach commented. “This was a big win. Cedric Don is a youth player and I told him to help out own his side of the pitch defensively but on the attack I asked him to go into the one areas due to his speed.”

“I’m really beat and I didn’t imagine this is what would be,” An utterly disappointed Netanya coach Benny Lam said. “I want to credit Jerusalem who played a brilliant game and they have a superb coach. I am considering resigning. Right now I will take a look at myself and see what we will do.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva and Ness Ziona played to a 1-1 draw as the sides split the points in the southern capital. Levan Kutilia was yanked down in the box by Miguel Vitor and scored on the ensuing penalty shocking the hosts but Rotem Hatuel found the back of the goal in the 65th minute for Beer Sheva to earn a point.

“This was a disappointing result,” Beer Sheva coach Elyaniv Barda said. “The opening 30 minutes were the worst of the season to date. We improved after that but once again we had to concede in order to begin to play. It’s not good to not win at home no matter who the opponent is.”

“A point in Beer Sheva for a team like Ness Ziona is like winning the championship,” a content Nir Berkovic said. “They are a terrific team and balanced so this is a fantastic accomplishment for our team. We are still giving up a goal a game but we are a good attacking team and if we would have been a but more focused we could have even won 2-1.”