Maccabi Tel Aviv swamped Ashdod 5-1 as the yellow-and-blue came back from a 1-0 deficit to score all of their five goals in the second half to take the win. Roie Levy opened the scoring in the first half to give the port city squad a shock 1-0 lead, but following halftime it was all one way traffic on the pitch.

Dor Peretz evened up the score at 1-1 thanks to a Gaby Kanichowsky cross in the 59th minute while Eran Zahavi gave the hosts the lead five minutes later as Osher Davida’s efforts paid off dividends. An active Davida then scored to make it 3-1 Maccabi and assisted on Peretz’s second goal of the game in the 81st minute while Dor Turgeman put the finishing touches on the game with a second half injury marker for the 5-1 victory.

“A job well done by the players,” Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Zarko Lazetic said. “We could have played better in the first half but it happens, when you don’t prepare well you miss clear chances. Mentally when you underestimate the opponent it’s hard, I tried to push the players to be serious, we lost some soft duels, the goal we conceded was too easy. They had maybe two chances and we were in a comfort zone thinking we would win just because we are Maccabi.”

“This was a disappointing and painful result,” Ashdod bench boss Eli Levy said. “We came very well prepared and we shouldn’t have looked like the way we did after we conceded the first goal as we just broke down. We should have been better even when we were down 2-1. We worked hard bit by bit for the first 60 minutes but that’s not enough. Maccabi is not in our league. We will have to strengthen our squad and improve.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva defeated Hapoel Hadera 2-1 to remain in first place and pick up the valuable 3-points. Alon Turgeman headed home the opening goal in the 13th minute while Kings Kangwa added the second strike for the southern Reds. Omer Senior pulled a goal back for Hadera in second half injury time but it was too little, too late for the hosts.

“I want to thank God for the three points first of all,” Beer Sheva coach Ron Kozuk began. “We made the game very difficult for ourselves as we played very slowly and did not adhere to our principles. We allowed Hadera to dictate the pace and the game became very slow which caused us problem as well. When this happens we need to understand how to create faster game play pace despite the what the opponent’s is trying to do. Hadera played a good game and I am glad it ended like this with us taking the points.”

“First of all, we wanted the players to push themselves to the maximum,” Hadera bench boss Asaf Nimi said. “We didn’t take advantage enough, especially in the first half. In the second half we created chances and we could have taken points but now we are looking ahead. We are always in the game but we need to know how to kill them off and take points.”

Hapoel Haifa pounded Maccabi Petach Tikva 5-1 as super striker Guy Melamed scored a hat-trick to help the Carmel reds collect the 3-points. Melamed started his scoring spree in the 8th minute via a header and added his second marker of the game just ahead of the halftime break to give Haifa a 2-0 lead. Vitalie Damascan cut the lead to 2-1 in the 50th minute but Theimoko Diarra came back quickly to give Rony Levy’s squad a 2-goal advantage five minutes later. Darmame Salou scored their 4th goal from outside of the box while Melamed put the cherry on top in 68th minute with his 17th goal of the season to wrap up the win.

“After the loss to Hapoel Jerusalem, there was little time to prepare and it was very important to get back on track with a win,” Haifa coach Rony Levy began. “With a 2-0 lead we conceded, but fortunately we quickly made it 3-1 and then we scored some goals that were well deserved. We played positive football, the players made quality moves and were very committed.”

“We can lose, but not like this,” a disgruntled Petach Tikva coach Tamir Luzon said. “We lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-2 and put up a fight, but here there was a total breakdown. When we conceded the third goals that broke us mentally which has happened too many times this season. We have to improve on that aspect.”

Guy Melamed who added three more goals to his tally, spoke about being the league’s top scorer, “My ambition is to be the league’s top goal getter and I’m not going to hide it, but nothing is for sure. There is quality competition here. As for my future, I aspire to play at the highest levels that I can and I will make a decision and hope it will be the best for me.”

Maccabi Netanya blanked struggling Kiryat Shemona 1-0 as 17-year old Daniel Dapaah scored the lone goal of the game in the 91st minute to snatch the 3-points and the win.

“This was really crazy, the kid deserved to score a goal,” a thrilled Netenay coach Yossi Abuksis exclaimed following the game. “He came in and helped us take control of the game. On days like this with a lot of shortcomings, it shows a lot of character to score late and the players deserve all the credit.”

“In the first half, we didn’t play the football that got us to this point and we went backwards,” Kiryat Shemona bench boss Shay Barda said. “After that, we moved the ball and created chances in what was a make or break game. We’re not playing well right now and when things don’t go your way, you have to respect the game, recover and continue on.”

Bnei Sakhnin and Ironi Tiberias played to a goalless draw as the two sides split the points for their efforts.

“In my opinion, due to the chances we had, we deserved to win,” Tiberias Coach Eliran Hodeida said. “We shut them down and they almost didn’t even have an opportunity to score. We wanted the win, but we are still happy with every point we can collect.”

Sakhnin Head Coach Slobodan Drapić concluded, “We have a problem against teams that play defensive football. In games like this, you have to look for the small chances and we need quality to do that. It’s a bit strange for us to play against a team that plays this way.”