Maccabi Tel Aviv slipped by Hapoel Haifa 2-1 as the ten-men yellow-and-blue scored a pair of late goals to take the win over the Carmel reds. With Zarko Lazetic back as the head coach following some uncertainty due to fan violence and after a goalless first half, Ido Shachar was shown a straight red card for a reckless tackle as the match approached the 55th minute. However, despite being a man down, Maccabi grabbed the lead via Sayed Abu Farhi off a Roy Revivo corner and then doubled the advantage when Dor Peretz scored in the box for a 2-0 lead. Javon East pulled a goal back in the 84th minute but that’s as close as the visitors would get on this night.

“The players showed character,” Lazetic said. “The players played with a lot of intensity from the start of the match and showed from the beginning what we need to do in every game. The team prepared very well, I felt it even before the match. The first half was tough. We tried to identify spaces and improve our decision-making in attack; we played with a good attitude, and that’s the most important thing.”

Haifa bench boss Gal Arel spoke about the match, “I think that in the first half Maccabi Tel Aviv didn’t really have any chances. The second half was very disappointing, frustrating especially after they got the red card. It seemed like the match was going in our favor. I felt that when they were down to ten men, they were more committed than we were.”

Maccabi Netanya and Ashdod played to an entertaining 2-2 draw that saw the port city side comeback from a two-goal deficit to take a point on the road. Oz Bilu and Matheus Davo gave the diamond city squad a 2-0 lead by the break but Eugene Ansah cut the gap and then Nehorai Dabush scored deep into second half injury time to split the points.