Maccabi Haifa overwhelmed Ashdod 3-1 down by the Port City as the Greens got back onto the winning track with 3 valuable points. Dean David opened the scoring in the 9th minute thanks to a through ball by Dia Saba who then doubled the advantage just before the break for a 2-0 lead. Iyad Khalaili scored his first goal with Haifa’s senior team to go up 3-0 while Noam Muche pulled a one back for the hosts but it was too little too late as Barak Bachar’s team took the victory.

“Obviously this was an important game for us after we had lost,” Bachar said. “We saw a team here that overcame what was an unpleasant loss. We received criticism and rightly so. But here I saw everyone playing together. We didn’t finish the first round as well as we wanted to but this win was sweet.”

“There is a feeling that we missed out in this game,” Ashdod assistant coach Klemi Saban said. “We had enough good chances to score and it’s a shame. Everything we planned we were able to carry out and we had opportunities but maybe it’s was a little bit of bad luck. We wanted to go on the attack and play offensively.”

Kiryat Shemona slipped by Maccabi Petach Tikva 1-0 as Alfredo Stephens scored the winner deep into second half injury time to hand Shay Barda’s northerners the 3-points and the win while Dan Roman’s was sacked following the defeat.

“I have an excellent team that is just so enriching,” Kiryat Shemona Head Coach Shay Barda said. I’m happy and I’m never afraid of anything; I’m a football coach who always aims high but I’m also realistic. Last season, Hapoel Tel Aviv finished the first round of games with 19 points and ended up getting relegated so there’s still a long way to go.”