Hapoel Tel Aviv blanked Ashdod 3-0 as second half substitute Roy Korine scored a pair of late goals and Anas Mahamid slotted home the third marker to send Elyaniv Barda’s side into the Round of 16 of the Israel State Cup. The Reds came out of the gate hunting for an early goal as Daniel Dappa had a brilliant opportunity but the Ashdod keeper Karol Niemczycki came up big in the box while Loizos Loizou’s long range attempt was tipped over the bar by the port city side shot stopper as the half ended goalless.

Being pushed by the home crowd of 10,000 fans, Hapoel looked to break the deadlock and found some luck when midfielder Mohammed Amer was handed his second yellow card and was sent off for a reckless tackle on Loizou reducing Haim Silvas’s side to ten-men in the 59th minute. Hapoel began to press in large numbers going into the box which almost paid dividends when an active Loizou’s header off a Yazan Nassar ball just missed to the right of the goal.

However, Hapoel’s next chance hit the target as Roy Korine, who came on in the 66th minute smartly put an Omri Altman ball into the far corner of Niemczycki’s goal for a 1-0 lead less than ten minutes that he was on the pitch. Korine wasn’t done yet as he completed his brace in the 80th minute when the winger cleaned up a rebound off an Altman header and beat the Ashdod keeper to double the advantage while Anas Mahamid scored just ahead of the final whistle to wrap up the contest.

Elyaniv Barda spoke about the win, “We had some good minutes in the first half and the red card certainly helped us but Ashdod caused us all kinds of problems as they are a top league team and most importantly we advanced to the next round. We always try to control the game and we were able to do that in this win although there were also some parts of the first half where we dropped off a bit. We built a very strong squad and everyone will have their opportunity as we will need the entire team as the league is a marathon.”

Haim Silvas reflected on the second yellow card that was handed to Mohammed Amer and the defeat, “It wasn’t a yellow card and there wasn’t even a foul. I’ve been in this game for many years and I never want to criticize the referees, but it was a questionable foul at best. The truth is Hapoel Tel Aviv was the better team but the guys really wanted to use this game and springboard off of it as well into the league but the referee ruined that plan and when he pulled out the red card the gap between the teams widened.”

The Man of the Match Roy Korine talked about the victory and to advance to the next round, “As professionals we have to do what we need to when we come in to play no matter who it is. We all give 100% and we saw last season how much fun it was to advance as far as we did in the State Cup last season and we want to make it further this year. It’s always great to score and help the team.”

In other State Cup action, Bnei Sakhnin was bounced from the competition falling to Leumit League outfit Maccabi Jaffa 2-0 on goals by Yoel Abuhatzira and Gil Itzhak, Hapoel Petach Tikva slipped by Hapoel Karmiel 2-1 thanks to markers from Golan Beni and Chipyoka Songa, Bnei Yehuda got past Maccabi Kiryat Ata-Bialik 2-1 while Hapoel Raanana downed Kiryat Gat 2-2 (4-3 on penalties) to all advance to the Round of 16.