Maccabi Netanya walloped Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-2 as Benny Lam won his debut on the sidelines for the diamond city squad. The yellow-and-blue snatched a quick 1-0 lead when Stipe Perica stuck the ball into the goal in they 9th minute but Boris Enow drew Netanya even 25 minutes later on a set free kick play. However, Perica took the lead right back in the 37th minute when the Croatian striker nodded the ball into the back of Dani Amos’s goal with authority off a Gabriel Kanichowsky cross.

Yaniv Mizrachi who just came on in the second half found the equalizer for Netanya with an incredible bicycle kick goal in the 61st minute and then the hosts grabbed the lead thanks to Parfait Guiagon’s goal two minutes later. Igor Zlatanovic polished off the Netanya victory with a 78th minute penalty after Luis Hernandez had pulled the striker down in the box and earned a red card for his efforts.

“I dreamed and believed and you can ask the players,” an enthusiastic Benny Lam said. “I told them that we would end the night with 8 points and the players played hard and took all of the points. I told them that we could win this game at home in front of our own fans but I want to take this game to game and not look too far ahead.”

“We should have finished the first half with more goals and showed quality and the second half was a disaster,” s shattered Patrick van Leeuwen said. “It doesn’t belong to Maccabi Tel Aviv to have so many losses. But we started well with a goal. The fans have a right not to be happy with the performance and I am not happy either.”

Maccabi Haifa overwhelmed Hapoel Jerusalem 4-1 thanks to a brace by 22-year old Mahmoud Jaber to lead the Greens to the victory. An active Jaber got to work on Haifa’s first goal went he sent a perfect through ball to Dolev Haziza who out it behind the capital city reds keeper Adebayo Adeleye for a 1-0 lead in the 9th minute. However twenty minutes later Jerusalem equalized on the club’s first goal of the season as Guy Hadida beat Josh Cohen form outside of the box.

But just before the stroke of halftime Jaber gave Bark Bachar’s squad the lead when he scored off a nice Tjaron Chery pass in the box for a 2-1 advantage. Godsway Donyoh added an insurance marker in the 67th minute when he sent a scorcher into the top right hand corner of the Jerusalem goal while the budding midfielder Jaber scored his second of the game to salt away the 3-goal win and the 3-points.

“I didn’t expect the game to be easy and maybe we could have made it easier but I can’t complain when we won 4-1,” Greens catch Barak Bacher said. “Jerusalem controlled the ball very well in the first half and we couldn’t find any answers but we made a couple of changes in the second half and we created more chances.”

Bachar also commented on Mahmoud Jaber’s impressive play, “From the first practice you could see a player that was here to work and that had quality with a tactical sense and played with confidence. One of the things I wanted him to do was to play more of an attacking role and that is what he did.”

“I’m very happy that we won and I always believed in my abilities from day one,” an excited Jaber said. I’m happy that I have been able to continue to develop and every minute that I get to play I will continue to work even harder.”

Hapoel Beer Sheva slipped by Maccabi Petah Tikva 1-0 on a Mariano Bareiro goal just at the stroke of halftime to take the 3-points and remain in first place.

“We played against a very good team that is well coached,” Beer Sheva bench boss Roni Levy said. “There are things we will have to work on but it’s better to do so after a victory in a tough game. We had to win and that is what we did.”

“We executed our game plan that we prepared prior to the matchup,” Petah Tikva coach Guy Luzon explained. “We pressed properly, pressured and controlled the ball. But in soccer it’s clear that one doesn’t look at what was but at the result. I am sure if we continue the way we have been playing we will be just fine going forward.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv used a 94th minute Shlomi Azulay header to defeat Beitar Jerusalem 1-0 in what was a crazy matchup at Bloomfield Stadium. While the action on the pitch was ho-hum throughout the majority of the game, the action off of it caused a number of stoppages of play due to fans throwing things onto the pitch as both sides wanted to see their side breakthrough which came via Azulay who was celebrating his 32nd birthday.

“Beating Jerusalem is as big as it gets,” Hapoel assistant coach Salim Tuama said. “There is nothing sweeter than this. I am happy that this time around we were on the winning side and our fans deserved this victory.

“I couldn’t think of a better gift,” Azulay explained. “I’m happy that this goal came during this game especially after preparing so diligently and I am thrilled to have been able to decode the matchup.”

Hapoel Haifa downed Hapoel Nof HaGalil 3-1 as Elisha Levy’s squad captured the 3-points at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Alen Ozbolt opened the scoring in the 10th minute with the Carmel Reds first chance of the game while Alon Turgeman doubled the advantage just ahead of halftime as he beat ‘keeper Stefan Marinkovic for a 2-0 lead at the break. Hanan Maman was sent off with his second yellow card in the 64th minute for the hosts but that didn’t stop Liran Sardel from adding a third goal before Elad Shahaf could break the shutout during injury time.

“Its as important for us to get back to winning and make our fans happy,” Levy said following the win. “We didn’t begin the game well but we were more efficient than our opponents were. Despite losing a player we were still able to score and this was also very important for the club to be able to do.”

“We’re disappointed and we knew that we were going to take a chance in this game if we decided to play attacking soccer,” Nof HaGalil coach Yaron Hochenboim explained.

Bnei Sakhnin dropped Ashdod 1-0 on a 2nd half Beram Kayal penalty at the port city after the referee called a hand ball in the box as the Galilee squad took the 3-points.

“Our first goal was to win and give us some breathing room from the relegation zone,” Sakhnin coach Sharon Mimer said. “I’m happy that we won although it wasn’t one of our best games, however, our players battled hard and we came in to win a thigh away game. There are ni easy games in this league.”

“We control the game but then we can’t figure out how to win,” a disappointed Ran Ben Shimon lamented. “Every game we set expectations and although we are a good team we keep losing all of the time. I believe in this team and that we can win in this league but we have some tough games coming up and we will make them also tough for our opponents.”

Hapoel Hadera blanked Kiryat Shemona 1-0 as Dia Labadibi’s second half low liner was the lone goal of the match as Menachem Koretzky’s squad still remains unbeaten this season.

“This was an important win,” Koretzky began. “Whoever understands what goes on in this league knows how important it was to make sure we moved as far away from the relegation zone as possible. This was a very tough game but we scored in the second half and I am satisfied with the win.”