Hapoel Jerusalem stunned Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-1 as Guy Badash scored a brace for the reds to punch and punch their ticket to the Championship Playoffs. Eran Zahavi opened the game with a 4th minute goal set up by Enric Saborit, but the defender tripped up Badash in the box who slotted home a 60th minute penalty to draw Jerusalem even at 1-1. Just three minutes later Badash found the winner from outside off the box to give Ziv Arie’s team the win and the 3 points.

“I had a feeling that we wouldn’t lose here,” Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie began. “Nothing changed with our team over the course of this round of games. Things happened and we could have maybe made it to the Championship Playoffs earlier, but regardless we ddi what we need to and we deserved it.”

“I don’t want to say anything, we made a substitute and we conceded two goals. This was my mistake,” a distraught Aitor Karanka said. “I thought they were ready and Dan Glazer and Dor Peretz did well in the previous game and I wanted to put a player like Glazer who is the best in his position on the pitch and move Golasa further up. I have an explanation as to what happened but I don’t want to regret it tomorrow.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva overwhelmed Hapoel Hadera 3-0 on the road to keep pace with Maccabi Haifa atop the table. Tomer Hemed scored off a corner in the 22nd minute to give Elyaniv Barda’s squad a 1-0 lead while Patryk Klimala scored his first marker for the reds and Helder Lopes found the back of the goal late in the game to take the victory.

“We really controlled the first half,” Barda said. “We created chances but maybe we were a bit impatient to find the right pass to finish them off. We didn’t start the second half well and maybe we thought that 1-0 was enough but Hadera is very organized. Thankfully we were able to create two good attacking opportunities and we took the win.”

“This was our third loss in a row and when you play against a team like Hapoel Beer Sheva you’re going to see good soccer,” Hadera coach Menachem Koretzky said. “We tried to create scoring chances and on one hand we didn’t score and on the other we conceded off a corner. I felt that the team really played to their ability in this game.”

Bnei Reineh downed Sektzia Nes Ziona 3-2 as Mark Koszta scored a hat-trick in a barnburner of a matchup between the two teams in the relegation zone. Koszta gave Reineh a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute but gaol by Muhammed Osman and Omri Ben Harush just ahead of halftime gave Nes Ziona a 2-1 advantage at halftime. However, Ahmed Abed fed Koszta for his second of the game while a handball in the box gave the forward yet another goal this time from the penalty spot in the 88th minute to take the win and the 3-points.

“If there was a time to come back and win this was it,” Reineh coach Sharon Mimer said. “Winning against a bottom of the table team will give us some breathing room. We saw some real character and this was a great game. The playoff will be a world war as every team will have no advantage over anyone else.”

“I can’t say that the players didn’t want this game,” Nes Ziona coach Shlomi Dura said. “We could have scored a third goal but it didn’t happen. We have to look ahead and see where we can take points. We aren’t going to raise our hands and as long as there is a chance, there is still a chance.”

Koszta spoke about his performance, “I’m very happy and the most important thing is that we won a tough game. Everyone gave 100%. I may have scored a hat trick but maybe next game some else will score. This was a total team effort.”

Kiryat Shemona and Maccabi Netanya played to an entertaining 2-2 draw that saw the hosts come back from a two goal deficit to take an important point. Ron Kozuk’s Netanya side came into the game after having knocked off Maccabi Haifa in State Cup quarterfinal action and quickly took a 2-0 lead on a pair of goals by Liran Rotman. But Gian Martins cut the lead to 2-1 by the end of the first half while Nir Drori’s effort glanced off of Raz Shlomo for an own goal as the squads split the points.

“We knew that we had to open the game up strong with aggressiveness and passion,” Kozuk said following the game. “Although we advanced to the State Cup semifinal we are still trying to guarantee a place in the Championship Playoffs. It was a fantastic start but we learnt that if you don’t close out the game then it cane get away from you which is what occurred.”

“Netanya was the better team for the first half hour but we got back into the game with a goal right before the break,” Kiryat Shemona coach Slobodan Drapic began. “We played better in the second half and really were the only team on the pitch as the point we took is very important.”

Ashdod and Bnei Sahknin drew 1-1 as Roie Levy scored off of a missed spot kick late in the game to claim a point for the hosts. Muhammed Knaan missed a 17th minute penalty which opened the door for Fabian Sporkslede the chance to give Sakhnin a 1-0 lead two minutes later. Knaan missed yet another penalty late in the game but Levy got to the loose ball first and put it home to split the points.

“We had plenty of bad luck as we were the better team fro 90 minutes,” Ashdod coach Ran Ben Shimon said. “We had some easy chances at the start of the game, but we gave up a goal off a counter attack. We were able to find a way to comeback and the players really wanted this but this was also our third game of the week.”

“I am happy with the result but not the way we did it,” Sakhnin bench boss Kobi Refuah explained. “We knew that Ashdod would be in excellent shape for this game and we were able to take a point. We would have liked to have been in the championship playoff but we won’t be and we will need to make sure we secure our spot in the league in the relegation playoffs.”