Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Raanana 2-1 thanks to a brace by Omer Atzily in a game that took place at Bloomfield Stadium to open Gameday 22 of the Israel Premier League. After a goalless first half, Atzily broke the ice with a 59th minute free kick goal which he followed up 15 minutes later with a super strike thanks to a magnificent Eyal Golasa through ball to take a 2-0 lead. Eugene Ansah pulled a goal back in injury time as his perfectly placed left footed scorcher went off the top left hand corner of the woodwork and behind a helpless yellow-and-blue keeper Daniel Tenenbaum to wipe out the clean sheet.

Maccabi Haifa blasted Hapoel Tel Aviv 5-0 at Sammy Ofer Stadium. The Greens scored early and often as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead after ten minutes on a scorcher of a goal off a turnover by Neta Lavi and a clinical strike in the box by Nikita Rukavtsya. Trent Sainsbury added a third Haifa goal thanks to a Tjaron Chery corner before the halftime break for Marko Balbul’s side while Yanic Wildschut and Tjaron Chery added second half strikes to seal the win.

Giant slayers Hapoel Kfar Saba continued their hot streak of late by taking out Beitar Jerusalem 2-1 at the Moshava Stadium. Last game the Greens defeated title contenders Maccabi Haifa and this week they dropped the capital city squad thanks to goals by Amadou Soukouna and marksman Omer Fadida. Shay Konstantin gave Beitar an early lead but when given the chance to draw his side even with a 90th minute spot kick, the defender came up short as the hosts took all three points. Earlier in the week, Roni Levy’s squad added striker Eliran Atar from Maccabi Tel Aviv to bolster their attack and he will make his debut next week against Maccabi Haifa.

Hapoel Haifa inched towards the championship playoffs with a 2-1 win at Kiryat Shemona. The scoring began in the 60th minute as Guy Mishpati nodded in Gidi Kanuk’s corner kick to give Haim Silvas’ Haifa side a 1-0 win. But six minutes later, Mohamed Shaker turned the identical trick at the other end of the pitch to draw the northern squad even. However, less than a minute later, Haifa striker Eden Ban Basat slammed home the winning goal for the Carmel Reds.

Ashdod defeated Sektzia Nes Tziona 2-0 as Dean David scored a brace to give new coach Ran Ben Shimon his first win for the port city side. David headed home the first goal off a pinpoint perfect cross by Shlomi Azulay just before the halftime break and added his second in the 57th minute as he beat keeper Omri Glazer in the box for the 2-0 victory. 

Maccabi Netanya and Hapoel Beer Sheva drew 1-1 to split the points. Tim Heubach opened the scoring for the diamond city side in the 28th minute but Niv Zrihen found the equalizer just before the halftime break as each squad took a point for their efforts.

Hapoel Hadera slipped by Bnei Yehuda 1-0 on Eliel Peretz’s first half strike to earn maximum points.