Hapoel Beer Sheva blasted Ironi Tiberias 7-0 as Kings Kangwa scored an early brace to set the tone in the blowout win. Kangwa scored from inside the box and then outside of it on a pair of gorgeous goals to give the southern reds a 2-0 lead by the 7th minute while Sambinha was sent off for yanking at Igor Zlatanovic’s jersey leaving Tiberias with ten men by the quarter hour of the match.

Within two minutes, Zalatanovic made the visitors pay as he slammed home a Helder Lopes cross and Dan Bitton slotted home a Zahi Ahmed ball for a 4-0 advantage by the 25th minute. Amir Ganach found a wide open Lopes in the center of the box for the fifth goal while Zahi Ahmed and Zaltanovic added the final two markers to dispose of an overmatched Tiberias side.

Hapoel Beer Sheva Head Coach Ron Kozuk spoke about some of the changes he made after being eliminated from continental play, “When we finished our European campaign, I analyzed things internally and realized that we are a very strong attacking team that will score a lot. Just as we didn’t panic back then when we weren’t creating chances, we know we need to work hard to generate the kind of volume of chances we did today.”

Tiberias bench boos Eliran Hodeda reflected on the match, “This was not pleasant at all. By the 6th minute it was already 2-0 and by the 13th minute, we were down to ten men.

When you start a match like that, there’s no way you’re finishing the evening well at Turner Stadium. First and foremost, the responsibility is mine. We’ll have to learn a lot from this for the rest of the season, because we really didn’t look good today.”

Kings Kangwa shared his thoughts, “We wanted to start strong right from the beginning. We know they’re a very tough team to play against, so we wanted to push and press from the start. I think this is the fastest brace I’ve scored in my career. I’m very happy, but we know this is just the beginning. We need to stay focused and take each game as it comes.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Bnei Reineh drew 2-2 in an entertaining matchup that saw Andrian Kraev rescue a point for the reds deep into second half injury time at Green Stadium in the lower Galilee. The hosts grabbed the lead as Miladin Stevanovic scored off a corner kick but Stav Turiel found the equalizer early on in the second half off a Kraev through ball. However, Antonio Sefer slotted home the go-ahead goal in the 58th minute to give Reineh a 2-1 lead.

Things went from bad to worse for Hapoel when Xande Silva was sent off for a studs up tackle and then following a handball in the box by Abdallah Jaber in the 91st minute, Turiel missed the ensuing penalty as Gad Amos made the spectacular save. But Dabiel Dappa handed off the ball to Kraev at the top of the area and sent the ball past the keeper to draw even as each side earned a point.

“We are leaving here disappointed,” Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Elyaniv Barda said after playing to a 2-2 draw. “It’s the second week in a row that we only started playing after halftime and that’s something I have to address. We managed to come back from being behind and we made very offensive substitutions even though we were short-handed as we aimed to win. But for me, you can’t play only one half in the Premier League.”

Maccabi Bnei Reineh Head Coach Slobodan Drapić commented on the draw, “It’s definitely not a good feeling, but I look at it differently. Against Maccabi Haifa, we lost 4-0 despite an excellent first half. We still need two more players to strengthen the team. I want to take the first half from this game as a positive. Our squad needs to be deeper so I have more options. We also have new players coming in.”

Bnei Sakhnin slipped by Ashdod 2-1 to collect the 3-points after having fallen to Beitar Jerusalem last week. An active Eden Shamir set up Artur Miranyan for Sakhnin’s opening goal in the 3rd minute while the aforementioned Shamir doubled the advantage less than 10 minutes later for a 2-0 lead. Jean Florent Batoum halved the gap in the 39th minute but that was as close as the port side would get.

Bnei Sakhnin assistant coach Lior Reuven was thrilled with the result, “We talked about this game all week and we knew that with the players coming in, we’d be a much stronger team after not having them available last week. We believed in ourselves and we came to press from the first minute, that was the plan: to settle the game as quickly as possible.”

Ashdod coach Haim Silvas summed up the loss, “We had a terrible start to the match and we were not alert and not aggressive. It felt like we were only playing when we had the ball, not without it and they scored from their only attacks. We clawed our way back into the game, did what we had to do to try and equalize. Unfortunately, we couldn’t generate enough momentum or enough chances to score and make it a draw.”

Hapoel Haifa dropped Hapoel Jerusalem 2-1 to win their first game of the season and take the 3-points. The capital city side started the game off on the wrong foot as Orel Baye’s reckless tackle in the 3rd minute left Ziv ARie’s team with ten-men for the majority of the match. The Carmel reds took immediate advantage of the extra man as Naor Sabag scored a stunner from just outside of the box for a 1-0 lead after less than ten minutes of play but Andrew Idoko headed home the equalizer in the 30th minute. However, just ahead of the break Javon East nodded home the eventual winning goal to hand Gal Arel his first win in charge of Hapoel Haifa.

Following the game Arel breathed a sigh of relief, “This was a stressful game and unfortunately, we couldn’t put it away. They came back into the match out of nowhere but that’s football. Some games get complicated and luckily today we won.”

Ziv Arie commented on the match, “The years go by and the same mistakes repeat themselves. All the preparation became worthless after a stupid red card. We came back into the game well, then conceded on a set piece. We were childish and naive. We’ve had two games and came out with 0 points. We’ll get through the break and move forward.”

Kiryat Shemona and Hapoel Petach Tikva played to a goalless draw as the two sides split the points.

“It was an exciting game and a good baptism by fire,” Petach Tikva Head Coach Omer Peretz said. “We played well and were organized on the pitch but we lacked some bite at the end, but overall I’m satisfied. We were in the game. There weren’t major differences between the two sides.”

“The only thing we can take away from this game is the effort and the fight,” Kiyat Shemona bench boss Shay Barda began. “In over 80 games that I have been here, this might be only the fifth or sixth draw. We pressed, but it was really a game without any real chances and that really concerns me as we didn’t get anywhere near the goal.”