Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Haifa 3-1 as Eran Zahavi scored a first half brace to take the points and remain atop the standings. Tomer Yosefi scored an early goal to give the Carmel Reds a 1-0 lead, however, Zahavi evened up the game with a 27th minute penalty and then the same striker scored a terrific goal in the area thanks to a perfect through ball by Milson as Robbie Keane’s squad headed into halftime with a 2-1 lead. Dor Peretz added an insurance marker in the 85th minute to wrap up the win.

“We showed courage and character in this game,” Keane said following the victory. “I have experienced players but Dor Peretz is simply a machine. He covers a lot of ground and it’s amazing, Eran Zahavi was sharp. It was not difficult for me to prepare the team mentally, we recovered, in football there is always another game. I’m satisfied with this game, the players showed determination.”

“Maccabi Tel Aviv is a very strong team,” Hapoel Haifa coach Roni Levy said. “We knew that they would come full of motivation after what had happened in Europe. They are a great team and we didn’t have a chance. We didn’t defend during the very critical moments of the game.”

Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Tel Aviv drew 0-0 as each team claimed a point for their efforts.

“This was not a good game from us,” Haifa coach Messay Diego said. Everything that we had worked on during practice did not come to fruition We have to continue on. Any time we draw and the teams above us win, we are letting the league slip out of our hands. We didn’t want to play the way we did and this was just a very poor game from us especially from the attacking side of the game.”

“The atmosphere around the team was not great,” Hapoel Tel Aviv coach say Dego said. “But our message in the lockerrom room was sharp – not what we have to lose, but that we have a lot to gain. We took into account that we would need a lot of defenders and midfielders to stop them and I think we did it well. But our game needs to be better and it will come with confidence.”