Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Jerusalem drew 3-3 as Eylon Almog scored a brace for the reds and Lior Refaelov did the same for the greens at a raucous Sammy Ofer Stadium. Almog gave the visitors a shot 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game off a corner kick while the strike gave his side a 2-0 advantage twenty minutes later thanks to a Don Cedric ball.

Dia Saba pulled a goal back early in the second half thanks to a helper by Dean David, while in the 63rd minute Ali Muhamed assisted on Refaelov’s first goal to knot the game up at 2-2. Ibeh Ransom then found the go ahead goal late in the game for Ziv Arie’s team but Refaelov’s second goal of the game in the 89th minute tied it all tip at 3-3 to split the points.

“I thought it was possible to win or lose this game,” Arie said following the game. “I knew it would be difficult for us in the second half and there were a few minutes where we were very naive. Ultimately the guys played well and I have no complaints.”

“This game reflects our season,” Haifa coach Barak Bachar said. “We were very soft, very unprepared from the first minute and we’re going into a slump that we’ve never had before. Fortunately, we were able to come back and almost turn things around, but unfortunately we conceded again and that has happened to us a lot this year and it’s a shame. We had a chance to catch up, but now the gap is very big.”