Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ironi Tiberias played to a 1-1 draw as each team took a point for their efforts. The yellow-and-blue opened the scoring with a goal by Idan Nachmias in the 31st minute but Haroon Shapso’s header off a corner in the second half earned the visitors a split of the points.

“Well done by the opponent, we were a disaster,” Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Marko Lazetic said. “We played badly, we didn’t create situation and we played without any courage. It’s like we didn’t train and it’s my responsibility. This is very bad. I wasn’t surprised, Tiberias played like this in the last few games and the problem is us, not them. We didn’t attack certain areas, we lost easy balls, played without pressuring then. We were very, very, very bad. We can say that we were fatigue and played without a crowd, everything, but it’s my responsibility. I chose the players on this team and it’s a lesson for us, we finished 1-1 against a very good opponent.”

“Obviously I believed that we could do it,” Tiberias coach Eliran Hodeida said. “In the pregame meeting and also at halftime I said that the most important thing in games like this is to believe until the end. The goal we scored was not a football goal, but a mistake that should not have happened. This week was not a normal week. We trained in the middle of the week in the center and then returned to the north. We had the sirens go off before the training, we had one on the way out here, so we didn’t do the video meeting before the training that we had planned either. The foreigners we chose this year played in Israel and knew what they were getting into.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva overwhelmed Hapoel Haifa 3-0 to take the win and the points in the desert capital. The southern reds saw Amir Ganah score off an Eliel Peretz assist to head into the break with a 1-0 advantage while the aforementioned Peretz added a second goal early on in the second half when his shot caromed off a Haifa player and into the net. Alon Turgeman put the final touches on the win with an 88th minute strike to wrap up the victory.

“We spoke about how we feel that we have a good team in the locker room prior to the game,” Beer Sheva head coach Ron Kozuk said. “We also feel that we are on the right path and we want to make the snowball keep rolling on in our favor. The guys really played well in this game as we pressed the ball which led to situations as everything started off well and progressed in a positive manner.”

“The better team won,” Haifa bench boss Roni Levy began. “We’re still not where I want us to be and while the players tried to press and move the ball around, unfortunately we just didn’t keep up. We conceded three goals from turnovers, but on the other hand I’m optimistic. I see good things and guys who are able to help us in the future.”