Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv played to a 1-1 draw as the two sides split the points at Bloomfield Stadium. Djorde Jovanovic volleys home a rebound just ahead of the break to give the yellow-and-blue the lead but Abdoulaye Seck found the right corner of the goal in the 86th minute to take a point and move closer to capturing the league title.

“I’m frustrated and not disappointed,” Maccabi coach Aitor Karanka began. “I believe that we showed them once again that we are better than they are and were much better in the first half. I am pleased with the players that we were much better than the table leaders.”

“Any time I don’t win I’m not content,” Barak Bachar said. “The game can be split into two, the first half was not good on out part and we couldn’t deal with the pressure and we didn’t play our game. In the second half we were worth a point and we could have even won the game.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva downed Ashdod 3-1 to stay alive in the championship fight. Miguel Vitor headed home the opening goal for the southern reds while Patryk Klimala slotted home a penalty in the 61st minute to give the hosts a 2-0 lead. Shalev Harush halved the lead but Sagiv Yehezkel putting the finishing touches on the victory with an injury time goal to wrap up the win and the 3-points.

“We returned from Sammy Ofer in haifa very disappointed and frustrated,” Beer Sheva coach Elyaniv Barda began. “We knew that within just a few days we had to come in ready for this game and I had to encourage the players and make sure that they understood that nothing is finished yet and thaw e have to do our job all the way until the end.”

“Our opening 70 minutes were very weak,” Ashdod bench boss Ran Ben Shimon said. “The team that needed to win this game, rightfully did so. I wanted to make some changes in the second half as I saw that the players were having a tough time with the physical battles.”

Hapoel Jerusalem blanked Maccabi Netanya 2-0 on a pair of second half penalty goals by Guy Badash and Jordan Botaka to give the reds the 3-points.