Maccabi Tel Aviv clipped Beitar Jerusalem 1-0 as Yonatan Cohen scored a late goal to hand the yellow-and-blue the points.

“It’s not a great feeling after losing especially when Maccabi wasn’t at their best,” Beitar coach Yossi Abuksis said. “But they have quality and they have players who can score at any given moment and unfortunately this was the result. We had some good chances in the first half and it was tough to to see us take a lead.”

Maccabi Haifa eased past Bnei Reineh 1-0 as Lior Refaelov’s second half goal made the difference for the Greens as they picked up the 3-points.

“This was a tough game,” Haifa coach Messay Dego said. “Reineh is a very club with plenty of quality. We showed a lot of character and I am proud in my players who did an incredible job. We can’t always score 3-4 goals but we are happy that we also didn’t concede any as well which is something we hope will continue.”

“We’ve earned a lot of respect this season,” Reineh coach Sharon Mimer said. “We have proven to everyone that we have a very good team and our place on the table is due to our strong play. We looked to take some points and it was a fairly even game as we cut down Haifa’s chances but unfortunately we didn’t.”

Maccabi defeated Hapoel 2-0 to take the Petach Tikva Derby as Aviel Zargari scored in the first half and Amir Altoury found the insurance market in second half injury time as Benny Lam’s squad took the victory.

“You have to win the Derby no matter what and how,” Maccabi coach Benny Lam said. “We came into the game after four losses and to win meant we spend up a 6 point lead over Hapoel Petach Tikva at the bottom of the table which was the goal. It’s not easy to play so much and we don’t have a big roster so I am very happy and content that we didn’t concede as well.”

“This is a very painful loss,” Hapoel coach Ofer Tesselpepe said. “It’s very disappointing especially as to how the game began. We really missed out in this game and as a newly promoted club we will be battling relegation. We have a good club and one that I believe in as we created chances and just didn’t score.”

Hapoel Hadera blanked Bnei Sakhnin 1-0 thanks to Elad Madmon’s goal from the top of the box to take the 3-points and the win.

“It was import that we were able stop our losing streak,” Hadera coach Niso Avitan began. “We needed these points and we got back some of our injured players which gave us more depth. I’m very content, but this is a long marathon ahead.”

“I’m very disappointed,” Sakhnin coach Slobodan Drapic said. “We shouldn’t have lost this game as we controlled the first half and didn’t even sense Hadera. Maybe it was mental or exhaustion. We didn’t play poorly and to lose this game was really far off from what our thinking was.”