Maccabi Haifa downed Rakow 1-0 in UEFA Conference League third round qualifying first leg action as an Eitan Azulay second half goal gave the greens a slight advantage heading into the return leg that will be played at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen. After a fairly even first half that saw both sides with chances on either side of the pitch, it was Azulay who finally broke the deadlock as the midfielder took a ball in the box turned 180 degrees and slotted the ball into the far left hand corner to give the visitors the 1-0 lead in the 61st minute.

The Polish squad picked up the pace over the final thirty minutes forcing Haifa’s bench boss Diego Flores to make wholesale changes to freshen up the lineup. Peter Barath had a number of opportunities to draw the host’s even but timely saves by keeper Georgiy Yermakov gave the greens the one-goal advantage heading into the second leg in Hungary.

“It was a tough match,” Haifa Head Coach Diego Flores began following the game. “But the players pushed a lot in what was a hard and physical game. We played on a fast pitch as well. The effort of the players paid off with a win, but this is only the first half. the fans came and we heard them. Next week is a home game for us and they will be with us. This win is for them. No doubt next week in Hungary they will be there, push us and help us get a good result.”

Th goal scorer Eitan Azulay reflected on the game, “We won, but it’s only one half and there’s still another game but this victory was very important to us. My goal was a bonus and the entire team helped me score it as we worked together. It wasn’t an easy game and this was a very good opponent, but we fought, both those who started and those who came off the bench. A huge thank you to our fans who came to support us, it’s important for us as they’re our 12th man.”

Beitar Jerusalem fell 3-0 to Riga as the yellow-and-black conceded a trio of second half goals in the first leg of Conference League third round qualifying. After a goalless first half that saw the Latvians dominate, the hosts finally broke through with a brace by Reginaldo Ramires both coming off of corner kicks while Baba Musah slotted home the third marker thanks to a free kick to close out the win. The second leg will take place next week at the Stadionul Ilie Oană in Ploiesti, Romania.

“We weren’t in the game,” Beitar Jerusalem Head Coach Barak Itzhaki said. “There were only a few minutes at the end of the second half that we played well and that wasn’t good enough. We were taught a good lesson here and a lot of things didn’t work. We didn’t play at a good pace, we didn’t move the ball under pressure properly, there were turnovers that are very, very uncharacteristic of us and from what we feared the most, the set pieces, we conceded three goals. We talked about it this prior to the match and everything went the wrong way.”

In Toto Cup action, Bnei Sakhnin blanked Kiryat Shemona 1-0 on Matthew Cudjoe’s 9th minute strike.

Sakhnin coach Sharon Mimer spoke about the game, “There is no doubt that every victory is very important for our confidence and energy and I am happy for the players because they worked very hard. Our squad is very shorthanded and we played against a team with an almost full roster, so congratulations to the guys.”

Shai Barda, Kiryat Shemona’s bench boss said, “There are a lot of thoughts after this game and it’s good that they are happening now in the Toto Cup, the trick is to know how to correct these mistakes in training and we will do just that. I think we were not good enough with the ball, we were dull and tired so this is a challenging time but we will get through it.”

Hapoel Haifa slipped by Ironi Tiberias 1-0 as Roy Nawi scored in the 92nd minute to give the Carmel reds the win in Toto Cup play.