Hapoel Beer Sheva just got by Beitar Jerusalem 1-0 as Dan Bitton’s goal early on in the second half handed the southern reds the win to stay at the top of the table. Beer Sheva controlled the first half with plenty of chances but couldn’t find the back of the goal until early on in the second half when Bitton scored on a counter after Omer Atzily missed a terrific opportunity. The yellow-and-black poured on the offense in the second half to desperately find the equalizer but came up short time and time again as Beer Sheva held on to take the hard earned victory.

Former hostage Bar Cooperstein was honored prior to the match as the fans gave him a standing ovation while Beitar also welcomed back the 1975 team that won the State Cup as a number of the players from that squad were honored.

Hapoel Beer Sheva went on the attack early and often with chances a plenty over the course of the opening half hour with Luka Gadrani’s absence clearly felt, but Beitar Jerusalem keeper Miguel Silva was up to the task as he stopped one opportunity after the nex by Igor Zlatanovic, Helder Lopes, Kings Kangwa and Djibril Diop with grace and style to keep the ball out of the goal. Yarden Shua and Omer Atzily each had tremendous attempts with the former putting his header off the post and the latter missing just wide right of the post as the sides went into the break goalless.

Beitar came flying out of the gates to begin the second half as Omer Atzily’s smart shot went off the post but as the yellow-and-black collected themselves up, Beer Sheva went straight down the pitch as Dan Bitton slotted home a Zlatanovic cross for the opening goal of the match to give the visitors a 1-0 lead. After wholesale substitutions, Barak Itzhaki’s team pushed for the equalizer with a terrific chance by Johnbosco Kalu while Ron Kozuk’s club saw Zahi Ahmed come in short with his opportunity off the left flank while Miguel Vitor’s header was saved by Vitor.

The hosts continued to press as Kalu’s attempt came up empty, Yarin Levy’s header missed the target, Timoti Muzie’s chance went over the bar and Atzily’s shot was as time wound down and the match came to an end with Beer Sheva taking the win.

Ron Kozuk spoke about the victory, “We played our style of football, with a lot of passes and ball movement using the entire pitch. We controlled the pace of play as well, but we just won this game, as it could have gone either way. I really liked the way we played and how we were able to do things that we wanted to do.”

Barak Itzhaki looked back on the tough loss, “We didn’t have a good first half but we came back to finish it strong which we continued in the second half where we controlled the game. We had so many chances but we couldn’t score, however, there were a lot of good things that I can take from this game despite having lost.”

Or Blorian reflected on the win, “We talked about having not won her last season and we knew there would be a huge crowd but we looked to come in here and take the win and the 3-points. We didn’t want the crowd to influence our play and we were able to do that in the first half.”

Miguel Silva spoke about the defeat, “It’s positive that I played well but we wanted to take the 3-points and we need to focus the next game. We didn’t have Luka Gadrani who is an amazing player but we have Gil Cohen who played amazing after having been out for a long time, if one player was missing w heave other players that cover for him. All in all it was a good game but unfortunately we didn’t get the points.”

Maccabi Netanya slipped by Kiryat Shemona 2-1 thanks to a late marker by Heriberto Tavares to snatch the 3-points and the win. Matheus Davo opened the scoring with a scissors kick strike in the first half to give the diamond city squad a 1-0 lead, but Aviv Avraham drew the northerners even in the 83rd minute by nodding the ball into the goal. However, Tavares sent a scorcher into the back of the goal in the 89th minutes to hand Yossi Abukasis’s side the victory.

“First of all, I’m happy that we have some quality players that have arrived and helped us improve,” Abukasis said. “The first half wasn’t bad at all, but in the second we made a lot of mistakes. The most important thing is to take the points. Our football wasn’t good enough, but I think this is a very important win against a strong team that knows how to press.”

“I think in the first half we completely controlled the game even if we didn’t create many chances,” Kiryat Shemona Head Coach Shai Barda commented. “We made a mistake on the goal and after that we weren’t good enough. Sometimes you need to know how to hold on for a draw and we didn’t do that. We fell asleep and paid the price. When you make those kinds of mistakes against Netanya, you pay for them and we should have taken at least one point from a game where we didn’t play well.”