Maccabi Petach Tikva and Hapoel Petach Tikva drew 2-2 in the city derby as the two sides split the points. Luka Stor opened the scoring with a scorcher from outside of the box in the 6th minute, but 25 minutes later Dennis Adeniran who had just come on as an injury substitute evened up the game from in close as the squads went into the halftime break all knotted up at 1-1. Saliou Guindo gave Maccabi the lead in the 67th minute while five minutes later Hapoel once again found the equalizer when Fortune Baseey headed home the tying goal as each team took home a point for their efforts.

“We can only cry after this game,” Hapoel Petach Tikva head coach Benny Lam said after the game. “If we didn’t win this game having had so many chances, it’s really unfortunate. We have been playing better of late but what we were missing was the ability to finish which we improved in this contest after having so many opportunities. We scored a pair of goals and had one called off but it still wasn’t enough.”

“The game wasn’t in control by either side,” Maccabi Petach Tikva coach Ron Kozuk said. “It could have gone either way. I think we needed to do a bit more especially after we scored our second goal but unfortunately we just didn’t. I’m disappointed because the 3-points could have really gone a long way for us as we try to get into teh championship playoffs.”

Maccabi Netanya blanked Ashdod 2-0 thanks to second half goals by Bar Cohen and Maxim Plakuschenko as the Diamond City side took the points and the win.

“This win was very, very important for us,” Netanya Head Coach Guy Tzarfati said. “This game was different from the last number of matches we had over the past little while. We weren’t very good in the first half and we were very slow but in the second half with help of the substitutes we were able to make the switch and I am happy that we won the game.”

“Soccer is a game that you need to score goals in and we had enough chances but we just couldn’t find the back of the goal,” Ashdod coach Eli Levy said. “In the first half we were clearly the better team but you have to play 90 minutes and it was too bad that we were unable too.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem played to a dry goalless draw to split the points.

“This was a tough week for us and we had to win in this game,” Jerusalem coach Ziv Arie. “The quality of the game was not great and we needed to be sharper, it was a frustrating game. I feel that e have a good team and that we have to get back to work this week as we have yet another game coming up next weekend.”

“It’s been very tough, five games without a win and we just don’t have enough quality.” Tel Aviv coach Yossi Abuksis said. “We are trying different lineups and we are losing balls and the substitutes as while didn’t make an impact in this game. We just turned over the ball too many times and we could’t create chances.”

Hapoel Hadera slipped by Bnei Sakhnin 1-0 as Elad Madmon scored on a 97th minute penalty that was issued after a hand ball in the box.

“We didn’t play intelligently especially in the first half,” Hadera coach Haim Silvas explained. “We did come out and perform better in the second half and we started to control the ball and create chances and we didn’t give up. We made some substitutes in order to find the goal and we had some tough misses, however, at the end of the day the drama played in our favor.”

“This loss was cruel but that is part of the game,” Sakhnin coach Slobodan Draper said. “Sometimes you score and win and sometimes you lose. We still haven’t punched our ticket to the championship playoffs and next week when we play Bnei Reineh we will do just that.”