Maccabi Haifa overwhelmed Ironi Tiberias 4-0 as Dean David scored a natural hat-trick to help the Greens get their season off to a good start with 3-points. After to close to a goalless first half, David banged home the opening marker of the game just before the break to give Barak Bachar’s team a 1-0 lead. Frantzdy Pierrot teamed up with David in the 60th minute for his second goal of the game as the pair joined forced again ten minutes later for David’s 3rd of the contest. Dia Saba scored a pinpoint perfect goal in the 80th minute to polish of the dominating victory.

“We can never underestimate our opponent,” Barak Bachar began after the game. “Tiberias came into the game and attempted to play and not sit back and defend which shouldn’t be taken for granted. I’m happy that we raised the intensity in the second half and the substitutes helped us. It wasn’t a great game by us, but it’s important to get into shape through victories and to continue on. Dean David looks great in training as well. He was angry that I took him out but I told him to save something for next week. He trains well and has a very good personality. He’s a real asset to Maccabi Haifa.”

Dean David added, “I’m very excited, the first hat-trick in my career. We played a good game and we played our football, this day will be remembered and I’m very happy. Me and Frantzdy have a good relationship on the pitch due to us having played together for the last few seasons and we help each other. I’m very happy to play with him. I hope we’ll help each other score more goals. I came here three and a half years ago and I love this place and the crowd that goes everywhere with us. We really hope to continue like this and bring back the championship.”

“Obviously it’s not pleasant to lose by such a margin,” Tiberias head coach Eliran Hodeda said. “We played well in the first half and created a situation or two where we could have scored but in the second half we lost patience and we were soft. Maccabi Haifa punished us for every mistake we made. We don’t have time to acclimate to the league, we will try to make adjustments to the Premier League. Everyone has marked us as a relegation club, because we are a young team. We all have to prove that we are worthy to stay up.”

Beitar Jerusalem got by Ashdod 3-2 after the port city side had been reduced to ten-men as the yellow-and-black notched the win and took home the 3-points. Shachar Rosen was issued a straight red card in the 20th minute to reduce the visitors to 10 players for the majority of the game that Beitar was ready to take advantage of. As Barak Itzhaki’s squad pressed for a marker they finally broke through in first half injury time as Patrick Twumasi’s attempt skipped through keeper Ariel Harush’s legs and into the goal to hand Beitar a 1-0 advantage just ahead of the half-time break.

Timoti Muzi doubled the advantage just minutes into the second half as he finished off a nice team play that involved Yarden Shua and Adi Yona, but a Grogori Morozov now goal in the 59th minute cut the Beitar lead to 2-1. A give and go between Dor Micha and Silva Kangani allowed the hosts to regain the two-goal lead, but once again yet another own goal by Morozov in the 85th minute closed the gap to 3-2, however that would be as close as Ashdod would get as Beitar secured the 3-points in a thriller.

“This game was an open invitation for us after Ashdod was issued a red so early in the contest,” Itzhaki began. “We were not able to move the ball properly and while our quality wasn’t at its best since it’s the start of the season, it is very, very important to win the first game and show that we are a winning team. We didn’t look great near the end of the game, but that is normal for this time of year. We are already being crowned champions by some, we really need some type of proportion here and we will have to work very hard to play even better later on in the campaign. We are just at the beginning of the season, there are things that need to be improved and I am happy that I we will be able to do that with three points in my back pocket.”

“It is not my nature to say that this just wasn’t our night,” Ashdod coach Eli Levy said. “No matter how many players we have on the pitch and whatever happens I will always believe that we have a chance. Even if we defended better we knew that Beitar would be tough to handle and we did our best. I’m so proud of the guys, it’s an unpleasant feeling to lose, but I’m proud of the guys and I have someone to go forward with in the future.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva slipped by Kiryat Shemona 1-0 thanks to a 70th minute goal by substitute Zahi Ahmed to give the southern reds the 3-points and the win over the newly promoted northerners.

“I’m a bit worried and things take time to come together,” Beer Sheva coach Ron Kozuk said after his side’s victory. “This is especially true after having started the season early with European matches and the team is far from where their potential needs to be in all aspects of our game, but winning the season opener is really above all. We were under a lot of pressure after our poor showing in Europe and the Toto Cup. We are a team that is expected to win and that’s why there is pressure.”

“We feel that we missed a good chance in the second half to take points,” Kiryat Shemona bench boss Shay Barda began. “I wasn’t happy that we were moving backwards in the first half but we were also acclimating to being back in the top league. We needed to be decisive in the second half but we also did play against a team with a lot of talent. It’s disappointing but we will continue on.”

Maccabi Bnei Reineh outlasted Maccabi Netanya 4-3 in a barnburner of a match that saw Sayed Abu Farchi and Igor Zlatanovic score braces for their respective sides. Kayes Ganem headed home a 3rd minute goal to give Reineh a quick 1-0 lead while Muhamed Shaker doubled the advantage twenty minutes later.

The hosts added yet another marker as Abu Farchi scored his first of two in the 34th minute but Zlatanovic pulled a goal soon thereafter, however, Abu Farchi added his second of the game deep into first half injury time to head into halftime with 4-1 advantage. Idan Barnes cut the lead to 4-2 in the 56th minute and Zlatanovic completed his brace in second half added time but it was too little, too late for the diamond city side as Sharon Mimer’s tea took the 3-points and the win.

“I don’t know if my heart can take this type of game again,” Mimer explained after the game. “However, for the sake of the team I have no problem with the game in a 4-3 win any time. We believe in our young players like Sayed Abu Farchi, who played a very good half with a pair of goals.”

“When you score four goals in the half and start the game in such a brutal way, then you are not going to have a fun game,” Netanya bench boss Marko Balbul said. “We came back in the second half, we could have equalized and even won. Reineh wasted a ton of time and the referees only added 6 minutes when they should have added ten. We were lacking in everything related to the defensive side of the game, the transition game and finishing. We were very soft on defense and we need to address that quickly.”

Bnei Sakhnin blanked Maccabi Petach Tikva 2-0 as a pair of first half goals helped the Galilee squad to the win and the 3-points. Petach Tikva’s poor start to the season after having been ousted from Europe continued as defender Ido Cohen collected a very early red card for a reckless tackle in the box to leave the visitors with ten men in the 5th minute as Alexandre Ramalingom slotted home the slot kick to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Ahmad Salman doubled the advantage by scoring off a Ramalingom ball just ahead of the break to go up 2-0 as Slobodan Drapic’s squad cruised to the victory.

“We began the season with a win just as we had wanted but we can play better,” Drapic said after the game. “We led 1-0 and stopped playing properly, but little by little as we collect points and play more games, we will be in better shape. We played slowly, the pressure we showed after losing the ball was better, but we can play faster. We didn’t find solutions in moving the ball like we know how to. They lost a player away and maybe because of that it was a mental issue that we took our foot off the gas.”

“There is no doubt that this is not how we wanted to start,” Petach Tikva coach Dan Roman said. “It is not pleasant to play 90 minutes with ten players, but I have no complaints against the players who gave above and beyond and tried to hold the game as is as much as possible and fought until the last second. What we will take from the game is the attitude. We want to look better, that’s what’s important to us and that’s what will happen.”

Hapoel Hadera hosted Hapoel Haifa to a listless goalies draw as the teams split the points.

“It was not a good game for us,” Haifa coach Roni Levy said. “Our energy took a significant drop in the second half after we threatened the opponent in the first. Unfortunately, the substitutions did not help us, we have a lot of work to do and a lot to improve. The players tried, did their best and we are looking forward to the next game.”

“I understand that this is the start of a season and there is excitement,” Hadera coach Haim Silvas began. “But this was a bad game for both teams and I felt that both teams didn’t push for a high tempo, so a point is also fine. The game itself was not good, both teams did not press and did not create momentum and that was disappointing. We wanted to come out with a victory, but we take the point and move on, there is not too much to take from this game.”