Hapoel Beer Sheva blanked Maccabi Petach Tikva 1-0 as Alon Turgeman’s 82nd minute goal gave the southern reds the points and the win to remain in first place.

“It was a difficult game and we knew it would be difficult,” Beer Sheva Head Coach Ron Kozuk said. “We knew we would have to be patient, to move the ball from side to side. It was a slow game and there was plenty of time wasting as well and I think the referee’s job is to make sure the game flows, let us play football. We knew Petach Tikva would want to annoy us and waste time, but we managed to stay in within our gameplan.”

Petach Tikva bench boss Tamir Luzon concluded, “You can’t be happy when you lose, it’s disappointing because the players really worked here as a team and we almost were able to leave here with a clean sheet, it’s a shame we weren’t able to get at least a point. There is a way to defend and know how to go play transition football, we didn’t do it well enough and therefore we weren’t able to threaten their goal. We didn’t deserve to win, maybe we deserved a draw for the defensive effort, but Beer Sheva has the quality and were able to win.”

Beitar Jerusalem slipped by Bnei Sakhnin 1-0 as Omer Atzily’s 39th minute goal made all the difference for the yellow-and-black as they took the 3-points.

Beitar Head Coach Barak Yitzhaki spoke about the contest and seeing the hostages return home, “I want to start by saying that with all the joy of the victory, we had an exciting day, seeing the young women return home healthy and in one piece, that’s what’s important. I think we started well, we dominated the game except for the last few minutes when Sakhnin threw all of their offensive tools at us. I’m pleased to get a second league win in a row and get back to playing well, even though there’s room for improvement.”

“This is the maximum we can give right now,” Sakhnin coach Slobodan Drapic began. “We also played this way against Maccabi Haifa and came out with a draw. There’s no doubt that with reinforcements we’ll be better. We need new players as three foreigners left, so we need two more and maybe a few Israelis too. We need quality but we’re trying to do everything with the tools we have.

Ashdod and Hapoel Jerusalem played to a 1-1 draw as Stav Nachmani scored in the 12th minute to give the port city side the lead but Don Cedric’s second half strike tied the game up for the reds as the squads split the points.

Klemi Saban, Ashdod’s Head Coach concluded, “We started the game really well by scoring the goal, we were also close to adding a second. We started the second half poorly and they took control of the game until the goal they scored. They had a few more chances it ended in a draw, now we are looking at the next game against Maccabi Petach Tikva.”

Hapoel Jerusalem’s bench boss Ziv Arie added, “We had a lot of good minutes and created quite a few chances. It happens to us a lot of times that we should be leading, but instead we give up a goal. It’s a shame, we wanted to win, but coming from behind and leaving Ashdod with a point is fine. I think we had excellent chances and we just didn’t take advantage of them, we need to be quieter, calmer and have better quality in the last part of the pitch.”

Ironi Tiberias and Hapoel Haifa drew 1-1 as Stanislav Bilenkyi gave the hosts a 1-0 lead early on in the first half, but the carmel reds drew even just ahead of the break when Fernand Mayembo found the back of the goal.

“We started the game well, but after the game was all knotted up we kind of disappeared,” Tiberias coach Eliran Hodeida said. “In my opinion, in the second half, it seemed like both sides were happy to leave with the point. We conceded a cheap goal from a corner kick, which we also gave away. We have to be honest, we didn’t deserve to win and we didn’t have a good game.”

“I was very worried about the game physically as my team is very tired and I was worried about fatigue and injuries,” Haifa Coach Roni Levy said. “My players handled it with dignity and I’m very proud of them. We didn’t start well and conceded a goal, then we came back, which wasn’t easy because Tiberias is a well-trained and very tactical team. We could have won, but we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities, but sometimes getting a point after falling behind is okay.”

Kiryat Shemona and Bnei Reineh played to a dry goalless draw as the two teams split the points for their efforts.

Shay Barda, the Kiryat Shemona Head Coach spoke about the hostages being released as well as the draw, “I want to hug the 4 hostages who have returned. This is a very, very important day for the country, that’s the main thing and I really hope that everyone will return home. As for the game, we looked like a tam that had lost four games in a row. There was no flow and I don’t like 0-0 in football. I’ve managed 67 games in Kiryat Shemona and this was the 6th or 7th draw in total. I didn’t like how we played, but it’s a good draw in terms of the point we got. We need to know how to stay in the league, especially with what this team is going through.”

Sharon Mimer, Bnei reineh’s bench boss also reflected on the game, “We deserved to win here, we created some excellent chances and we also played good defense and Kiryat Shmona barely had any opportunities. The players put up a fight and we arrived here with a short squad.”

Maccabi Netanya downed Hapoel Hadera 2-1 as Yuval Sadeh scored the winner in the second half to hand the diamond city squad the win and the 3-points. Freddy Vargas slotted home the opening goal in the 13th minute but less than ten minutes later Ibrahim Sangare evened up the score at 1-1. However, Sadeh scored the winning goal from inside the box midway through the second half to give Yossi Abuksis’s team the victory.

“This was perhaps one of our weakest games lately, but you have to know how to win games like this one,” Abuksis explained after the game. “I always said that if you’re good even in a bad game, you’ll win and if you’re bad even in a good game, you won’t win. We started great and then we conceded a goal and got a little upset. I told the guys that they looked like they were three goals behind and we got stressed out for no reason. Hadera attacked with a lot of players and we turned over the ball but we’ll fix that up.”

Hapoel Hadera’s new coach Nimrod Kostika looked back at the defeat and possibly being releagted, “I definitely think we can stay in the league. We didn’t really fall behind the opponent and were even better than them in certain stretches, I didn’t see their keeper make any special saves and it was an even game. I’ve seen teams that survived more difficult situations, there are 13 more games and if we believe we can turn this wheel around.”