Hapoel Beer Sheva and Maccabi Haifa played to a goalless draw as both keepers, the greens Georgiy Yermakov and the southern reds Niv Eliasi were both spectacular in keeping the ball out of their respective nets as the two sides split the points.

Haifa Head Coach Barak Bachar wrapped up the draw, “I enjoyed watching this game as we saw two teams that wanted to win. Towards the end we were tired and wanted the match to come to an end. With many players not being available and everything that comes with it, a draw is okay but during the match itself I felt that we could win. The team continues to progress as we saw a good side, coming into the toughest stadium in the league and playing quality football.”

Beer Sheva Head Coach Ron Kozuk reflected on the result, “Of course we wanted to win the game. We reached enough chances to win, so this is a disappointing result, but that’s part of football and no one thought we would win it all the way through. We controlled the game, we need to keep playing well and focus on ourselves.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv slipped by Bnei Sakhnin 1-0 as Ido Shachar headed home the lone goal off of a Roy Revivo pinpoint cross into the box as the yellow-and-blue collected the 3-points and the win.

“This was a good performance, an important win and an important step forward,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Zarko Lazetic said. “We are building an identity. There are mistakes, but that’s part of football. Bnei Sakhnin is a team that everyone struggles against and it’s very hard to score against them, we worked well and they hardly got into situations, that’s very important for us.”

“We are very disappointed,” Sakhnin bench boss Sharon Mimer began. “Maccabi Tel Aviv is a quality team and for anyone who forgot, they are the champions. They didn’t create many chances, I don’t remember our keeper Muhammed Abu Nil making saves and that’s a shame, because we didn’t want to leave here with a loss.”

Hapoel Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv played to an entertaining 3-3 draw that saw the visitors come back from a 2-goal deficit to earn a point for their efforts. Roy Korine sent a left footed screamer into the back of the Haifa goal to give Hapoel Tel Aviv the lead in the 20th minute, but ten minutes later Javon East scored a penalty and Liran Sardel found the back of the goal as the hosts snatched a 2-1 advantage.

Just as the second half began, Ofek Biton headed home a Rotem Hatuel cross to give Gal Arel’s team a 3-1 lead but less than a quarter hour later, Ziv Morgan nodded in a Korine ball to cut the gap to a single goal. Arel was issued a red card and sent to the stands in the 71st minute while ten minutes later a Tel Aviv corner kick saw the ball carom off of Gorge Diva and into his own goal to pull Elyaniv Barda’s squad even as the two sides split the points.

“I’m happy that the first half started really well, we went up 1-0,” Hapoel Tel Aviv bench boss Elyaniv Barda said. “We could have also made it 2-0 but out of nowhere we conceded a penalty and then due to a lack of concentration it was 2-1 for Haifa. That was shocking and we couldn’t control the game. I could have made three substitutions at that point in the first half and I told the players that if the play doesn’t improve, we’ll make some changes. We conceded again as the second half began and that goal accelerated the process and thankfully we were able to get back into the game and record a result.”

“I protested a foul and was sent off, but I prefer not to talk about the refereeing,” Hapoel Haifa Head Coach Gal Arel began. “From the first minute every 50-50 foul was called in their favor. The second half opened perfectly for us and we went up 3-1. Unfortunately, we conceded from set pieces and that’s a bit of a shame. I told the players after the derby that they need to bring the energy into this match and I think they did. It was enough only for a point, but now we look ahead to the next game.”

Hapoel Petach Tikva downed Ironi Tiberias 4-1 as Mark Koszta scored a brace in a game that saw all of the goals scored in the first half of play. Cle scored in the 2nd minute of play to give Petach Tikva a quick 1-0 lead and then doubled the advantage a quarter hour later as Roee David latched onto an Orel Dagani though ball. Dagani again was at the center of attention when he hit the cross bar and Koszta headed home the third goal while Tiberias cut the lead to 3-1 thanks to Yonatan Tepper’s shot from 20 meters out. However, a minute later Koszta completed his brace as the visitors polished off the 4-1 win.

“It’s fun that we scored like that,” Hapoel Petach Tikva Head Coach Omer Peretz began. “Our attack has been very creative since the start of the season and anyone who has watched us knows that from the first round we were playing like this, but not everything went in. Now the goals are going in and this team doesn’t stop exciting the fans.”

“We conceded two goals by the 15th minute and we just weren’t prepared,” Tiberias bench boss Eliran Hodeida said. “Even when we tried to come back into the game, we didn’t show up, we weren’t focused. We talked about maturity and readiness before the match and we weren’t there.”

Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Jerusalem played to a 1-1 draw as Wilson Harris was at the center of attention on both goals. The American scored the go ahead marker for the diamond city side in the 93rd minute while he committed a foul in the box that allowed Guy Badash to score from the penalty spot in the 102nd minute of play to split the points.

“I expected more, I expected a win,” Netanya Head Coach Yossi Abuksis said. “We had a huge amount of chances in the first half and in the second half we missed a penalty. I decided Tavares would take it and it was just bad luck. We went ahead and in the 90-something minute there was a foul in the box.”

Jerusalem Head Coach Ziv Arie talked about the draw, “How do you sum up the madness? Football, there’s nothing much else to say. We didn’t come to play football, this is our season in a nutshell but at least the game ended with us earning a point.”

Kiryat Shemona sunk Ashdod 5-2 as five different scorers found the back of the goal for the northerners who were without their head coach Shay Barda whose father had passed away and was sitting shiva. Haim Silvas, the Ashdod coach was let go on Monday.

Adrian Ugarriza opened the scoring in the first minute of the match while Muhammed Abu Romi put in his own rebound off of a penalty due to a hand ball in the box to double the advantage in the 20th minute. Ovadia Darwish sent a blistering shot into the Ashdod goal in the 52nd minute, Yair Mordechai scored off of a corner kick less than 5 minutes and Ariel Sharetsky put the ball past keeper Karol Niemczycki for a 5-0 lead within ten minutes. Karim Kimvuidi and Nehoray Dabush pulled a pair of late goals back for Ashdod but it was too little, too late as Kiryat Shemona took the win and the points.

Kiryat Shemona assistant coach Menu Haronian spoke about the win, “This victory is dedicated to Shay Barda. We talked about the period he’s going through and we hope the win gave him a small bit of comfort. I’m very happy that we managed to win, also for him. Anyone who’s been watching Kiryat Shemona in recent games sees a good team. Things came together here and I’m very happy that we looked good and that we knew what we needed to do. I’m very happy for the guys, they worked hard.”

Ashdod bench boss Haim Silvas commented on his team’s performance, “What can you say after a result like this? It’s one of those days where there’s nothing to explain and nothing to make excuses for. The game unfolded very badly, there are days in football when everything goes wrong and we fell apart as well.”