Maccabi Haifa overwhelmed Ironi Tiberias 4-2 as the greens finally won their first match of the season in Toto Cup play at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Barak Bachar’s team got to work early on as Bruninho’s long range scorcher beat keeper Gad Amos for an early 1-0 lead while Yarin Levy’s shot in the box caromed off of two Kiryat Shemona defenders to double the advantage soon thereafter.

Just ahead of the break Eitan Azoulay added a third Haifa goal but Kayes Ganem immediately pulled the marker back as the hosts headed into halftime with a 3-1 lead. Ganem scored a brilliant volley to cut the lead down to a lone goal to 3-2 in the 58th minute but Silva Kani headed home an Eyad Khalaili cross to close out the win.

“It’s always important to win, especially after two losses in which we didn’t look good,” Haifa Head Coach Barak Bachar began. “We’re not getting carried away as there are still a lot of things we need to improve. It’s important for the players to get back into shape and it’s important that we score goals. I saw improvement in several aspects of our game, but we’re still far from where we need to be. There are things to fix and plenty to work on. We’re building something new while moving forward.”

Interim Tiberias Head Coach Moti Krispil summed up the match, “We don’t like being just average and we told the players that before the game. Some of them were stepping onto the pitch at Sammy Ofer Stadium for the first time, so there was a lot of excitement, but we don’t accept mediocrity. We pressed high and the players created chances in the first half as well. We managed to score two goals, but it wasn’t enough.”

Kiryat Shemona blanked Bnei Sakhnin 1-0 as Adrián Ugarriza scored the lone goal of the match via the penalty spot to hand the northerners the 3-points in Toto Cup play.