Maccabi Haifa downed Ashdod 3-1 as the Greens scored three unanswered goals to take the points ahead of their Champions League game later this week against Benfica for third place in the group and a ticket to the Europa League knockout stages. The port city squad stunned the hosts as Ran Ben Shimon’s side grabbed a quick lead off an own goal by Abdoulaye Seck, but Timothy Awany did the same for Barak Bachar’s squad soon thereafter as the score was all knotted up at 1-1 in the 23rd minute. Frantzdy Pierrot took a Mavis Tchibota ball and slammed it home ten minutes later to snatch the lead as Muhammed Abu Fani added an insurance marker in the 73rd minute to sew up the victory.

“We have to appreciate every win in this busy time,” Haifa coach Bachar said. “We have players who are injured that played and we have a squad with more than 12-13 players who can play. Whoever had the opportunity to play really showed that they are an integral part of this big roster.”

“We gave up goals during our best minutes which was against the flow of play,” Ashdod bench boss Ben Shimon explained. “We are trying to find consistency and all of the teams in this league are so close together which means that if you come into a game and you’re not ready you can easily fall into a state of negative momentum.”

Hapoel Jerusalem blanked Sektzia Nes Ziona 2-0 to get back onto the winning track. Ondrej Baco scored from in close in the 6th minute while Guni Naor scored early on in the second half to take the 3-points and the win.

“This is the second time that we responded with a win right after a loss and that is why I am satisfied,” Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie said. “I’m really happy for our fans because last week they came out and we didn’t give them anything to be happy about. It was very important that we came into this game and makes sure that everyone would have a big smile on this face. We were all mixed up last game and we aren’t Maccabi Tel Aviv just yet.”

“We didn’t show up, period,” Nes Ziona coach Nir Berkovic said. “We must have thought that we were Barcelona after going three games without a loss. Jerusalem deserved the points, they wanted the game more and they battled for it.”

Beitar Jerusalem were held to a goalless draw by Hapoel Haifa who finished the game with only 9 players on the pitch. The Carmel Reds were reduced to ten men in the 33rd minute when Amit Glazer was issued a straight red card due to a reckless tackle on Ofir Kriaf and then lost Kwame Quee as the midfielder was also sent off for the same reason in the 73rd minute. But Roni Levy’s team was able to hold on to take a surprising draw despite being two men down to split the points.

“We pressed at the end of the game for the winner but in general this was a very bad game,” a disappointed Beitar coach Yossi Abuksis said. “We wanted and we tried to do something and we just couldn’t. This would have been a game that would have pushed us ahead but we just didn’t have the patience and intelligence to win.”

“This was a very important game and it was critical to take a point in this game after the run that we had recently,” Haifa’s new head coach Roni Levy explained. “The players were able to stand their ground until the end of the game despite the two red cards. I am trying to put some things into the team but it’s all a process since I just joined the team.”

Maccabi Netanya escaped with a 2-1 win over ten-man Bnei Reineh thanks to Liran Rotman’ goal deep into second half injury time to hand Benny Lam’s squad the 3-points. Eden Kartsev opened the scoring for Netanya with a scorcher from 20 meters out to beat Arik Yanko for a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute, but Richard Boateng quickly drew the visitors even at 1-1. Early on in the second half Reineh were reduced to 10-men after a reckless tackle by Oleksandr Noyok as Netanya poured on the attack to find the goal ahead marker. Finally, in the 96th minute an oncoming Rotman put home an Igor Zlatanovic cross coming off the right wing to give the hosts the points and the victory.

“I want to thank the fans and I don’t take them for granted as they believed in me and supported us,” Netanya coach Benny Lam said after a poor run of results. “I took this past period of time very hard and I experienced this when I was a player as well. Football has a lot of peaks and valleys.”

“If we would have had 11 players we would have won,” Reineh coach Sharon Mimer said. “we had a game plan and the red card turned everything upside down. We are doing a lot things well but we blew it at the critical moment of the game. We have a good squad and we deserved the draw with ten men, it’s really unfortunate.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv got by Kiryat Shemona 2-1 to take the win and the three points at an empty Bloomfield Stadium due to a penalty doled out by the Israel Football Association because of the flares thrown during the Derby earlier in October. Itamar Shviro gave visiting Kiryat Shemona a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute but Yoav Hofmayster was sent off a quarter hour later after picking up his second yellow card. The Reds took full advantage of the extra man as Alen Ozbolt slotted home a penalty ahead of the halftime break while Dan Einbinder found the winner in the second half to give Slobodan Drapic the 3-points.

“The players aren’t happy as to the way we won the game as we didn’t play well,” Drapic explained. “However, we took the 3-points and we should be content about that. We were lucky that Kiryat Shemona received a red card because we were really not good. I hope that these points will give us confidence going forward.”

“It’s really too bad that we lost as we have been playing well recently but are coming up short when we make little mistakes that cost us,” Kiryat Shemona coach Menachem Koretzky said. “We had a great first half and then we fell apart with the help of the referee and Hapoel Tel Aviv came back.”

Hapoel Hadera walloped Bnei Sahknin 4-1 as Samy Bourard scored a pair of penalties to take the 3-points at Doha Stadium. Guy Melamed pounced on a rebound to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute but from that point on it was all Hadera. Mohammed Khatib headed home a Samy Bourard corner kick, Saar Fadida jumped all over an errant back pass to beat Gad Amos and Bourard slotted home a penalty after a handball in the box at the stroke of halftime as Hadera snatched a 3-1 lead at the break. Bourard completed his brace after being pulled down in the area as he elegantly chipped the ball over Amos for his second penalty goal of the game to wrap up the win.

“Doha is a very tough pitch to play on,” Hadera coach Assaf Nimni said. “But we passed a very difficult test and took the 3-points as we now turn out sights on the next game. Our game plan worked to perfection and I have to I’ve got to give credit to the staff and players who deserve it.”

“We’re in a very hard spot right now,” Sakhin coach Haim Silvas explained. “These past two weeks everything has been very difficult and we lost some of our pride. We have some good players here and we aren’t in last place as we are where we should be on the table. Sometimes there are tough days in soccer and you need to know how to rise to the occasion.”