Maccabi Haifa 1-1 Hapoel Haifa
In the Haifa derby, it was evident that Hapoel was looking for some revenge from their cup loss last week as they were the dominant club in this match up. A number of poor calls by referee Daniel Bar-Natan including a non-penalty call and a ball that crossed the Maccabi goal line that saved the host from losing this match up. Wiam Amasha added to his goal total of 9 with a penalty in the 18th minute and Ran Abukarat tied up the game in the 74th minute with an absolute rocket of a goal to give the visitors a point in the derby. The draw damaged Maccabi’s chances of reaching Maccabi Tel Aviv at the top of the table as Haifa looks at a 10 point mountain to climb.

Ironi Ramat HaSharon 0-1 Kiryat Shemona
Kiryat Shemona assured themselves of a place in the upper playoff with a 1-0 victory with the help of Serbian Dusan Matovic’s 2nd goal of the campaign. Itamar Nitzan’s goalkeeping in place of regular Dani Amos provided the clean sheet for last year’s champion. Meanwhile Ramat HaSharon missed a chance to separate themselves from the borderline of the upper & lower playoffs as they are in 6th position with 34 points.

Bnei Sakhnin 0-3 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Table leaders Maccabi Tel Aviv dominated away at Sakhnin in a match that one is wondering if the host club should have even bothered showing up for! Goals by Eitan Tibi in the 20th minute, Sweedish international Rada Prica in minute 61 and Mahran Radi in the 82nd minute sealed the win and demented Maccabi’s top place on the table with 56 points.

Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-1 M.S. Ashdod
Ashdod missed a terrific chance to move up into the upper playoff picture by only drawing with struggling Hapoel Tel Aviv. Omer Damari’s penalty goal allowed the host club to draw with Ashdod who received a 3rd minute goal by Stefan Scepovic. The draw places Ashdod in 7th place with 32 points, two points behind Ramat HaSharon and Hapoel sit in 3rd with 41 points.

Bnei Yehuda 1-0 Beer Sheva
Bnei Yehuda picked up a win and a place in the upper playoffs on Nenad Marinkovic’s 3rd goal of the season in the 55th minute as Gal Cohen starred in the match for the club in Orange. Beer Sheva still has an outside shot of an upper playoff position, however, they will have to leapfrog a number of clubs to do so as they are in 9th place with 30 points.

Hapoel Ramat Gan 1-2 Hapoel Akko
In a battle of bottom place clubs, Akko was able to pull out the victory in the dying seconds on a 93rd minute mark by Dedi Ben Dayan. Guy Dayan supplied Akko with the first goal of the match in the 2nd minute while Ramat Gan equalized in the 88th minute on Romanian Dorin Goga’s first Israeli league goal.