Maccabi Haifa slipped by Maccabi Petach Tikva 2-1 as Lior Refaelov’s late brace bagged the points for the visiting Greens. After a goalless first half, the hosts stunned Barak Bachar’s squad as Luka Stor latched onto a Yarden Cohen through ball to put Petach Tikva in the lead. However, wily veteran Refaelov found the equalizer by a terrific curling free kick in the 74th minute and then scored the winner less than a quarter hour later when Kenny Saeif sent the striker a perfect cross that he put home to give Haifa the valuable 3-points and the win.
“Rafaelov doesn’t surprise us,” Bachar said after the match. “He had scored beautiful goals in the exhibition game we played this past week as well. He is someone who really understands the game. There were difficult moments in this contest and we weren’t in an easy situation but we managed to make the necessary adjustments win this difficult game. It was time for us to win a game like this even by the skin of our teeth, this was a very important victory.”
“This was tough,” Petach Tikva Head Coach Dan Roman said. “Overall we played the game that we had wanted to play and we were solid which made it very difficult for Haifa. We then scored the goal we wanted to score but after that point, the game just got away from us. We made adjustments and we recovered a lot of balls and went into transition so we can take these positive things, but the result is disappointing at the end of the day.”
The Man of the Match Lior Refaelov reflected on the win, “I am happy with the victory, I owed it to the team after the loss against Hapoel Jerusalem. This was not an easy game but it was very important to win ahead of the return to Sami Ofer Stadium. Maccabi Petach Tikva has a talented group of young players.”
Hapoel Beer Sheva nipped Maccabi Netanya 1-0 as Paul Garita saved the southern reds in the 89th minutes when he headed home an Antonio Sefer ball to snatch the 3-points and the victory.
“This was a tough game,” Beer Sheva Head Coach Ron Kozuk said. “We had enough chances to win it, but it was just very hard. It was important to come back from the break with a win and the players came back well, very hungry, understanding and remembering what we want to do and our goals ahead. It was very important to me to win this game.”
“This was a game where we were very poor defensively,” Netanya bench boss Yossi Abuksis began. “It was one big catastrophe. From the first minute we didn’t cover each other or help each other, offensively we created chances in bursts, but we didn’t score. This is a win that Beer Sheva deserves, we didn’t even deserve a point in this game.”
Kiryat Shemona downed Hapoel Haifa 2-1 as the northerners mounted a late game comeback to snag the points. Guy Melamed thumped home the opening goal in the first half to give the Carmel Reds a 1-0 lead but right before the break Iyad Habshi had a chance to send the game into halftime all knotted up but smashed a penalty off of the woodwork to keep the score as is. But Shay Barda’s team wasn’t done as Roie Zikri’s 55th minute attempt went off of Noam Ben Harush into the Haifa goal to even up the contest and Lidor Cohen’s header went past keeper Yoav Gerafi as Kiryat Shemona took the win.
“We needed to calm down from the outset and that also led to a missed a penalty,” Barda explained. “But that is part of football. I told AIyad Habshi that he is among the best defenders in the country and after missing the penalty the trick is how we can recover positively from that. It worked and I am very happy. Our defensive play was not good and Hapoel Haifa embarrassed us in many times. W had no solutions, especially in the first half. I am happy that we did manage to win, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
“We are not looking for excuses,” a disappointed Haifa bench boss Roni Levy said. “We started off the game well and took the lead. Games like this should have made it 2-0 but we lacked concentration and we needed to be sharper. On the other hand, on a few occasions we conceded a little too much. We knew that Kiryat Shemona is very stubborn and tough team as well as very strong which caused us issues.”
Ashdod blanked Ironi Tiberias 1-0 thanks to Stav Nachmani’s 28th minute goal that gave the port city the points and the victory.
“In the first half we had more chances and could have scored more,” an upbeat Ashdod coach Eli Levy began. “In the second half we wanted to keep the score as is. We all spoke about this game being a test of our character and we passed that test as a team. These are 3 very important points and while it wasn’t the most beautiful football the victory was the most important thing.”
“This was a painful loss,” Tiberias bench boss Eliran Hodeda said. “Ashdod was better in the first half while we played decently in the second half, but in football when you don’t score you can’t take points. We’re aware of the problem that we are having issues scoring and there is a lack of goals and we’re working on it.”
Hapoel Hadera and Bnei Sakhnin played to a goalless draw to split the points at the Netanya Stadium.
“Sometimes you just have to get through these types of games, take this point and go home,” Sakhnin coach Slobodan Drapic said. “We were very afraid of this game as this is a team that has always caused trouble for us and as the game developed, I saw that we were just not there. We brought in another central defender at halftime because the defense made a lot of mistakes. We used to lose a game like this but here we knew how to take a point.”
“Our first half was perfectly fine,” Hadera bench boss Assaf Nimni . “We came in with a game plan and the players did a fantastic job. We faced a stubborn opponent who knew what they wanted, but we knew how to make adjustments.”
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