Hapoel Beer Sheva defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 as Eylon Almog’s late goal helped capture the Super Cup at Bloomfield Stadium, marking the beginning of the new Israeli soccer season. After having played to a goalless draw against Levski Sofia in Europe League first leg, first round qualifying action, the southern reds grabbed an early lead via Eliel Peretz whose long shot caromed off of yellow-and-blue defender Raz Shlomo and past a helpless keeper Yoav Gerafi.

However, Beer Sheva lost Roie Levy to a second yellow card due to reckless tackle on Roy Revivo, as the defensive back was sent off in his debut leaving Ron Kozuk’s squad with just ten men at the 16th minute.

With an extra man to the good, Zarko Lazetic’s squad peppered the Beer Sheva goal with chances and looked to finally have broken through via Osher Davida’s attempt that went off of Matan Baltaxa for what seemed to be an own goal. But the marker was disallowed due to a handball by Nemanja Stojic just before the halftime as the reds took a 1-0 advantage into the break

Maccabi continued applying pressure as the second half began with an incredible chance by Dor Peretz off a magnificent through ball by Ido Shachar, but it was Wesley Patati who finally broke through for the yellow-and-blue putting home a Davida ball to draw even at 1-1 in the 62nd minute.

After wholesale changes to freshen up both lineups, Beer Sheva was the team to take advantage of the substitutions as Zahi Ahmad set Almog up to score the eventual winner against his former team in the 76th minute. A late opportunity from Sagiv Yehezkel came up short in second half injury time as Maccabi ran out of chances and Hapoel Beer Sheva hoisted the trophy to the delight of the visiting fans. Now the reds will turn their sites on advancing to the second round of Europa League qualifying when they host Levski Sofia in Hungary coming up on Thursday.

“I thought I wouldn’t talk about it this season, but this hostage pin is still here,” Beer Sheva Head Coach Ron Kozuk began. “First of all, it’s urgent to bring them home. Regarding the game – my players put on a heroic display and we were leading 1-0 when the game got bit messed up for us. Our goal is to bring home titles and the players did just that as they deserve all the credit for the win, first and foremost.”

“We didn’t score and conceded two goals, congratulations to Beer Sheva for winning the title,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Zarko Lazetic said. “They came into the box twice and scored twice with one time via a deflection. We have time to pay more attention and we’re just at the beginning of the season, it’s not easy.”

The game MVP Eylon Almog talked about the victory, “I am always determined and we are athletes and professionals and we are paid to perform. I appreciate every moment on the field, I appreciated it before the injury and I appreciate it even more after. I have enjoyed every day since the beginning of this season ad I am working hard. The road has just begun, we are happy today but tomorrow is already a new day and a very important task awaits us on Thursday.”

Dor Peretz also spoke about the game, “All credit the to Hapoel Beer Sheva for defeating us in Bloomfield Stadium with ten men from such an early minute of the game, all the credit to them.”