Hapoel Beer Sheva crushed Hapoel Tel Aviv 5-1 to punch their ticket to the Israel State Cup Final where they will face Beitar Jerusalem in late May. The southern reds dominated the matchup as Paul Garita scored a first half brace against the second division Leumit League squad who came into the contest with high hopes to stun the Premier League table leaders.

Hapoel Tel Aviv began attacking from the outset as Stav Turiel’s early chance just went over the bar while the same Turiel sent the ball to Yazan Nassar who missed a wide open chance in the 10th minute. Beer Sheva began to pick up the pace and broke the ice when Paul Garita headed home the opening marker off a Amir Ganah ball while Iuri Medeiros doubled the advantage off a Helder Lopes cross ten minutes later for a commanding 2-0 lead. Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Elyaniv Barda made wholesale substitutes to try and stem the tide and halt the snowball but that didn’t stop Ganah from picking off the defender and easily slotting the ball home while Garita nodded in the fourth strike as Ron Kozuk’s team went into the break with a 4-0 advantage.

Matan Baltaxa was sent off very early in the second half after being issued a a pair of yellow cards which left Beer Sheva with ten men and a lifeline for Hapoel Tel Aviv but Kozuk made a trio of substitutes to freshen up his squad. However, Roei Alkukin took advantage of the extra man as he came in all alone into the box and curled in a beauty of a goal behind Ofir Marciano in the 62nd minute to cut the lead to 4-1. Hapoel Tel Aviv tried to pull back another marker but Beer Sheva still had quality chances as Dan Bitton scored a gorgeous free kick goal over the Hapoel Tel Aviv wall to close out the win.

“Right now we have done nothing,” Beer Sheva bench boss Ron Kozuk began. “The current champion is Maccabi Tel Aviv and the cup holder is still Maccabi Petach Tikva. Sure, I have to say wow, what a game, but we, me and my team are aiming high. It doesn’t matter who our opponent is, we are just concerned with who we are, Hapoel Beer Sheva. We want to do the things that we want to do game after game regardless of our opponent. As for completing the Double by winning the league title and the State Cup, we have to press the reset button every day and as long as we look at ourselves it will be fine.”

Dan Biton who scored the final goal added, “We respected Hapoel Tel Aviv, we came into the game with a great attitude and that’s what made the difference. There’s no doubt, it’s great fun to score, but the main thing is that we won. I realize that winning the Double is possible at the end of the season, but we haven’t achieved anything yet. We have to keep working hard. I always believe and strive for the best. There will be a tough game against Beitar Jerusalem in the final.”

“It’s not easy to end a game like that, certainly a semi-final,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Elyaniv Barda said. “But this year’s State Cup competition ended up being a very nice journey that we took as a team. We faced the best team in the country and I think that the second half better reflected the gap between us and not so much the first half. We started the game well with a very good quarter hour of play but then their quality took over. The mistake that led to the fourth goal really ended the game. This was an excellent lesson for us heading into the Premier League next season and it’s something that we learned from.”