Maccabi Haifa smashed Maccabi Petach Tikva 5-0 to move to within just 3-points of Maccabi Tel Aviv atop the table. Lior Refaelov opened the scoring with a 15 meter stunner to take a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute whole Anan Khalaili scored five minutes later to double the advantage. Goni Naor scored his first goal for the greens in the 64th minute, Dean David added his marker five minutes later and Sean Goldberg found the back of the goal in the 84th minute to sew up the victory.

“We played a fantastic game,” Haifa coach Messay Dego said. “It was important for us to continue the good performance that we had against Maccabi Tel Aviv. I told the guys that it’s crucial for us to show our intensity. Once the first goal was scored things became easier as every game is really up to us for the good and the bad”

“We know very well what we need to do as a club,” Petach Tikva coach Ron Kozuk said. The time is short and we have many games. We need to bring in some players as we discussed before I signed here. We need some new energy and quality for the team. If we don’t do that we just won’t be there.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Bnei Reineh played to a stunning 2-2 draw as the yellow-and-blue needed a late Dor Peretz strike to complete his brace to see the sides split the points. Abdallah Gaber opening the scoring when he headed home a 22nd minute goal but before the break, Peretz took advantage of a defensive error by the hosts to draw even at 1-1. Loei Halaf gave Bnei Reineh the lead once again in the 52nd minute but Peretz once again came up big with the tying goal in the 85th minute as each squad earned a point.

“The players were able to cut down the gap to Maccabi Tel Aviv,” Bnei Reineh coach Sharon Mimer said. “If we would have had a little bit of luck perhaps we could have taken all 3-points. We’re happy about the draw and the most important thing was being able to break out of our slump.”

“Our performance wasn’t good enough,” Maccabi coach Robbie Keane said. “We can’t keep conceding goals, set pieces and I have to take responsibility, that’s football. You have to stop conceding goals, we can always find chances. You have to chase the goal and not sit back and waste time. This was probably our worst performance. We aren’t getting the wins we should be getting.”

Beitar Jerusalem blanked Hapoel Hadera 3-0 as Yarden Shua recorded three assists in the away win. The yellow-and-black got off to a quick start as Shua delivered a perfect corner kick that Adi Gutlieb headed home early on in the first half while the midfielder then sent a tremendous ball to Adi Yona who doubled the advantage in the 78th minute. Just two minutes later, Shua delivered a through ball to Myron George who put it home for the easy win.

“What’s super important to me is not conceding,” Beitar coach Yossi Abuksis said. “Our defense played an incredible game to record the clean sheet. On the attack I believe that we had the most chances that we’ve created this season and we have to always take advantage of those opportunities.”

It didn’t really work on for us this game,” Hadera bench boss Niso Avitan explained. “We started the game off poorly and we gifted Beitar a goal. We then decided to change our formation and we tried to get back into the game but on a day that the majority of the players were playing under their average our chances are minimal.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva overwhelmed Hapoel Tel Aviv 4-0 as the southern reds continued their fine play over the past number of weeks. Miguel Vitor nodded home the opening goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead but right ahead of the break, Omer Senior was issued a red card leaving Borja Lena’s side with just ten men for the entire second half. Eden Shamir took advantage of the extra man and scored in the 63rd minute while Rotem Hatuel bagged a late brace to polish off the win for Elyaniv Barca’s squad.

“We scored a goal off a set piece that we practiced this week,” Barda said following the game. “The red card then totally changed the complexion of the game. But even before that we were in control of the ball very nicely. We did lose some that we shouldn’t have but all in all we are continuing to improve.”

“This was a tough game against one of the best teams in the league,” We conceded a first half goal off a set piece and after the reds we just couldn’t come back. We tried in the second half but we just couldn’t score. We will stay together and remain together as a team.”

Hapoel Petach Tikva surprised Maccabi Netanya with a 2-0 win to take the points and send new head coach Guy Tzarfati to his first defeat since taking over the club last month. Shoval Gozlan scored in the 20th minute to gave Ofer Tesselpepe’s team a first half lead while Avi Rikan doubled the advantage just before the break and with two Netanya players being sent off that was it for Netanya’s chances to mount any type of comeback.

“We waited for this for a long time,” Tesselpepe said. “We had a tough run but the players worked hard and didn’t hang their heads. I’ve got to take off my hat to them and t9 the fans who really pushed us to the victory. We have a great group here and they believe in what we are doing.”

“We knew that it would be tough to win here at the Moshava Stadium,” Tzarfati began. “We had our chances but we didn’t score and we did concede, that part of the game of soccer. With 9 players we did as best as we could and made a huge effort so I can’t complain about the guys.”

Hapoel Jerusalem and Bnei Sakhnin played to a goalless draw as the sides split the points.

“This was a fairly even game,” Reds coach Ziv Arie said. “Sakhnin is one of the toughest teams in the league. There was momentum shifts and there were times when we played very well while other moments where they were superior. There are some specific things we need to works on but we also know that there have been many games recently.”

“We wanted to take 3-points and to play proper soccer,” Sakhnin coach Slobodam Drapic commented. “But we saw that it was just not working out so at least we took a point. Every point in the second round is important and doing so against Hapoel Jerusalem is even more crucial.”

Hapoel Haifa slipped by Ashdod 1-0 on Tomer Yosefi’s first half strike to give the Carmel Reds the win and the 3-points.

“This was great,” Haifa coach Roni Levy said. “During these tough days for our country at least this will give some of our fans a but of comfort. We are not disconnected from the fact that our soldiers are battling and the hostages are waiting to come home every day. I have to say a good word about our guys who despite having so many games recently, they are still pushing hard and investing their time to play well.”

“We made some changes but I’m not so sure they were successful in changing our game,” Ashdod coach Eli Levy said. “We controlled the game in the first and we gave up a goal against the flow of play. Haifa is an excellent tea and they made one good play and scored.”