Maccabi Tel Aviv got back onto the winning track with a 3-1 victory over Kiryat Shemona as interim head coach Barak Itzhaki notched his first win in the northern capital. The yellow-and-blue came into the game after having dismissed their bench boss Patrick van Leeuwen due to poor domestic league results that left the club just one point above the relegation zone after seven matches.

With Itzhaki who has been serving as the sports director on the sidelines Maccabi began the game slowly going down 1-0 on a 28th minute goal by Itamar Shviro for the hosts. However, Brandley Kuwas unleashed a stunner from just 12 meters out to draw even three minutes into first half injury time. The visitors grabbed the lead in the second half after Luis Hernandes pounded the ball home off a corner kick and substitute Osama Khalaila added the third strike late in the game to take the 3-points.

“Coaching is new to me but I’ll get used to it and serve in this capacity as long as it’s needed,” began Barak Itzhaki. “In soccer you’ve always got to have emotions. We didn’t think we would begin the league the way we did and we will have to work hard and be united. We will still have to improve how we start off games but we were able to figure out how to get out of the hole we started out with today.”

“When we gave up a goal in first half injury time things got out of our hands,” Kiryat Shemona coach Amir Nussbaum said. That changed the mentality of the way the game had been heading. We began well and took the lead against Maccabi which was great but the goal we gave up led to further mistakes as the game continued on.”

Ashdod and Maccabi Haifa played to an entertaining 2-2 draw at the port city to each earn a point. The Greens got on the board first as their corner kick went off of Ashdod’s Gil Cohen and behind his own keeper Yoav Gerafi for an early 1-0 lead. Kenny Saief found the equalizer via a header off a Montari Kamaheni ball to draw even at 1-1 in the 28th minute.

Barak Bachar’s squad retook the lead in the 63rd minute when Tjaron Chery pounced on a rebound but Or Inbrun’s penalty 6 minutes later once again tied up the game as each team earned a point.

“We led the game twice but this is hard place to play,” Bachar said. “We did everything we could to win the game but Ashdod is a quality side despite having not had many chances. But when you are ahead twice in Ashdod you’ve got to find a way to win the game.”

“We could have won and we could have lost,” Ashdod coach Ran Ben Shimon explained. “We did a lot of great things this game and Kenny Saief has become one of our main players. As each game goes by I feel that we are getting a better understanding of how we want to play and we are continuing to improve.”

Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Beer Sheva drew 1-1 as both goals were scored just a minute a part in the second half to split the points at the Netanya Stadium. After a goalless first half that saw the hosts lose Aviv Avraham to a straight red card due to a reckless tackle, Ramzi Safuri broke the deadlock in the 65th minute as he curled a free kick behind Dani Amos and into the Netanya goal for a 1-0 lead. However, just a minute later the hosts pulled the goal back as Aboubacar Doumbia cleaned up a rebound to earn his team a point playing with a man down.

“The 12th man was certainly the fans today,” Beni Lam began. “I don’t like to celebrate a draw but this one was like a win and the players deserve a ton of credit. Beer Sheva is a very strong team and when we went down to 10-men I brought on attacking players to see what we could do. Congrats to the entire squad.”

“This was a very disappointing result,” Beer Sheva coach Roni Levy lamented following the draw. “Netanya played with a lot of passion and desire and I was happy that we were able to take the lead. But instead of adding another strike we gave up a quick goal, but it’s a tough league and this is juts the start of the season.”

Hapoel Jerusalem won their first game of the season as the Reds downed Maccabi Petah Tikva 1-0 as Idan Shemesh scored in the 88th minute at Teddy Stadium to give the hosts the 3-points. After a goalless first half, Shemesh who had come in as a second half substitute took a Guy Badash ball and put it behind the Petah Tikva keeper Arik Yanko to take the victory.

“I didn’t know we would win this game but I did know that if we did then we would officially be welcomed to the Premier League,” said an excited Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie. “We have played some good games but we knew that with a young roster and a low budget there would need to be patience.”

“We had chances in the first half and we were in full control of the second half but we couldn’t score and they did,” Petah Tikva bench boss Guy Luzon explained. “We will continue on but there was no way we deserved to lose this game and at worse a draw. However, in soccer you’ve got to score. We didn’t and we paid for it.”

Hapoel Haifa blanked Hapoel Hadera 3-0 as the Carmel Reds received markers by three different goal scorers to take the 3-points. Alon Turgeman opened the scoring in the 18th minute while Liran Sardel doubled the advantage just ten minutes later. Alen Ozbolt added a third goal for Elisha Levy’s team to take the victory in front of their home fans at Sammy Ofer Stadium.

“I’m very content with the result and the effort that the players put in,” Levy said following the game. “We played like a team that deservedly is in the top half of the table. We controlled the game from the beginning to the end and it was great that the fans enjoyed the game.”

“Of course I am disappointed” Hadera coach Menachem Koretzky lamented. “We had a game plan in place and we gave up three goals.We didn’t come into the game well and it was not a good showing by us. I have a big part in that.”

Bnei Sakhnin shocked Hapoel Tel Aviv 3-0 at Bloomfield Stadium to take the victory for embattled coach Sharon Mimer. Beram Kayal opened the scoring with a penalty in the 32nd minute while Moti Barshazki and Ibrahima Conte scored second half injury time goals to notch the win.

“We played with our emotions today and the guys showed that they can play with any team in the league,” Mimer said. “I am very proud and I want to make sure the club knows how to appreciate these types of wins. As long as there is quiet in Sakhnin we can dose pretty good things.”

“I don’t have much to say,” Hapoel coach Nir Klinger began. “We tried everything and a result like this can only happen once every ten or twenty games. We created chances but we couldn’t score. The result doesn’t reflect what happened in the game.”

Hapoel Nof HaGalil were gifted an own goal by Beitar Jerusalem central defender Orel Degani in the 93rd minute to hand the hosts a 1-0 win and the 3-points.