Maccabi Tel Aviv downed Hapoel Jerusalem 3-1 thanks to a pair of late second half injury time goals to take the 3-points. The yellow-and-blue took a 1-0 lead in the first half as Dan Bitton slotted the ball behind Reds keeper Adebayo Adeleye to head into the break with the advantage. However, second half substitute Idan Shemesh stunned Mladen Krstajic’s squad as he beat Daniel Peretz with a smart header in the 73rd minute. Maccabi was reduced to ten men when Matan Hozez was issued a second yellow card but Jerusalem couldn’t take advantage of the extra man. Gaby Kanichowsky and Ido Shachar each scored their first league

“It was a very difficult game and this was our third game in the last 7-8 days,” Maccabi coach Mladen Krstajic explained. “We controlled the game but we had to finish it earlier, however, we had the desire to win. We conceded an easy goal and we had to score after our first one, but I want to congratulate the players and our fans for the win.”

“I’m disappointed and we had a chance to win after Maccabi went down to ten men,” Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie lamented. “We are a team that have a number of players who were in the Leumit League last season and it’s not easy to play against a team like Maccabi Tel Aviv. We believe in our team and we will bring in a couple of players during the transfer window to help out.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Nof HaGalil played to a tantalizing 2-2 draw that saw Yoav Tomer score a 98th minute goal to earn the Reds a point. Visiting Nof HaGalil took a surprise lead in the 15th minute when Kevaughn Frater pounded in his a rebound off his own missed penalty. Stav Nachmani doubled coach Shay Barda’s team’s advantage five minutes into the second half off a Mohamed Traore miscue, but a few minutes later Shlomi Azulay pulled a goal back to get to within one goal once again. As the match went deep into injury time Yoav Tomer found the equalizer off a corner to split the points.

“This game doesn’t reflect the type of game we play at all,” Refuah said following the draw. “We weren’t in this game at all and other than the point there isn’t anything else to take from this matchup. Nof HaGalil wanted this game more than us and we juts didn’t play well.”

“I am proud of the guys and this was our first point in a very long time,” Barda stated following the game. “We should have scored another goal but that’s soccer. We may not have won but we stopped the snowball of loses with the draw.”

Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Petah Tikva drew 2-2 to split the points at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Alen Ozbolt opened the scoring with an end to end run as he beat Arik Yanko to give the hosts a quick 1-0 lead in the 7th minute. However, Mohamed Hindy sent a perfect through ball to James Adeniyi who drew Nir Klinger’s squad even at 1-1 ahead of the break. Hindy once again played facilitator in the 49th minute when he sent yet another beautiful through ball to Lameck Banda who gave the visitors a 2-1 lead. But Hanan Maman jumped on a horrible Yanko clearance to draw Elisha Levy’s team even as the sides took a point a piece.

“How can I be content?” Petah Tikva coach Nir Klinger began. “I have to give the players the confidence and belief that we can win and they had the energy to do so at the start of the game. But out of nowheres we made a mistake, gave up a goal and fell back. We have to keep working on that.”

“It was tough for us to win this game and we had to come back to pull even,” Haifa coach Elisha Levy said. “But once we did we could have even won the game. The players did the maximum that they could.”

Kiryat Shemona and Beitar Jerusalem played to a thrilling 2-2 draw that saw the capital city side’s Ofir Kriaf score an 89th minute equalizer to split the points. Liran Rotman gave Beitar a very early lead in the 7th minute which Yossi Mizrachi’s team nursed into the second half until Samuel Braun scored into the upper half of the visitor’s goal to tie the game up at 1-1. Ziv Morgen pulled Slobodan Drapic’s team into the lead in the 79th minute but Kriaf took advantage of an offside error by Roie Kehat to even the score up at 2-2 to earn each side a point.

“This wasn’t easy and we have been going through some very tough days,” Beitar coach Yossi Mizrachi said following the draw. “We had players who couldn’t play and a very short squad but I told them that there is no alibi in soccer and no excuses. Everyone gave it their all and we played attacking football.”

“We played much better in the second half and we knew that this was an important game for us to find our way to the upper half of the standings but we weren’t able to withstand the pressure,” Drapic said. “We needed to score more goals and in the end we gave up a goal off a corner, but that’s soccer.”

Hapoel Hadera slipped by Ashdod 2-1 as Shoval Gozlan scored an 87th minute goal to take the 3-points. Gustavo Marmentini opened the scoring for Menachem Koretzky’s squad in the 7th minute as he jumped all over a rebound, but Ata’a Jaber beat Robi Levkovitz to even the score at 1-1 just before the thirty minute mark. As the game looked to be heading for a draw, substitute Shoval Gozlan headed home the winner off a corner kick to hand the hosts the victory.

“Other than perhaps one game, this has been a good stretch for Hadera,” Koretzky explained. “As the players return I’m beginning to see the team that I want. This was a super important win for us.”

“I don’t want to look at excuses that we were missing players,” Ashdod bench boss Ran Ben Shimon said. “I played the best squad and the result could have gone either way. We had some very good minutes but it was very hard for us to come back once we were in a deficit.”