Six games in the book, a 1-0 affair, one with a 5-0 score and 4 draws, three of which were 0-0! Not a great offensive evening for Israeli football, but have no fear two more games to go before the round comes to a close!

Maccabi Haifa 0-1 Hapoel Haifa

Maccabi Haifa & coach Arik Benado’s poor form continued as they suffered yet another defeat in league play this time to crosstown rivals Hapoel Haifa. This was only Hapoel’s second win since 2001 against the Greens which led to some fans calling for Benado’s dismissal after only picking up 8 points in 7 games. Zarko Korac scored the only goal in the 25th minute and sent the Hapoel fans into euphoria. Irate Maccabi fans tore seats out of the stands and tossed them about as Maccabi needs to right the ship and fast. The last thing owner Yakov Shachar wants to do is replace yet another coach. However, if goal scoring is what they are looking for Shachar can blame only himself for not opening up the purse strings before the season to bring in a goal scorer or use Weam Amasha who has been watching the matches from the VIP seats instead of being on the pitch.

Ramat Hasharon 0-5 Hapoel Tel Aviv

Itay Schecter made good on his promise last week to make amends after a disappointing 1-0 loss at Beitar Jerusalem with 3 goals and two assists against a sub par Ramat Hasharon squad. Omer Damari & Gili Vermut began the rout with 2 goals before the half hour mark and Schecter finished off the badly wounded club with his first goal of his hat trick before the half and the other two in the 73rd & 83rd minutes. Hapoel Tel Aviv and especially Itay Schecter, the club’s big signing were under tremendous pressure after a lackluster beginning to the season but RHS seemed to at least be a temporary cure for their woes.

Ashdod 2-2 Hapoel Beer Sheva

Ashdod took a shock lead on a brace by Yero Belo in the first 30 minutes of the match and it looked that Beer Sheva was on their way to a loss. But their two huge off season additions, Elyaniv Barda & Maor Bozaglo put an end to that thought by evening the score and escaping Ashdod with a draw and splitting the points against Nir Klinger’s pesky team. Bozaglo came in as a 64th minute substitute for the capital of the south and slotted home the equalizer in the 72nd minute.

Hapoel Akko 0-0 Beitar Jerusalem

Beitar Jerusalem’s match in Akko was delayed 45 minutes due to the team bus breaking down, but that not the only thing that got stuck for Beitar. Their scoring seemed to fizzle out after their 1-0 win last week over Hapoel Tel Aviv as both clubs couldn’t find the back of the net. Beitar has now earned points in their last 4 games with two wins and two draws as they continue to inch forward on the league table. 5,000 fans filled the Akko stadium as the Beitar faithful were hoping another victory would be in the offing as Bryan Jones & David Revivo were introduced in the second half, but the story line didn’t end the way it did the prior match.

Kiryat Shemona 0-0 Maccabi Petach Tikva

Maccabi Petach Tikva traveled the long way up to Kiryat Shemona and ended up collecting one point in their 0-0 draw which could have saved Petach Tikva coach Moshe Sinai’s job at least for now. Elroie Cohen played 66 minutes and Omer Golan, a one time Israel National team player came off the bench for the final 11 minutes trying to find the winner, but it was not to be. Barack Badash returning to Kiryat Shemona after one season in Europe came off the bench in the 70th minute but he also couldn’t help the home side find the back of the net.

Bnei Yehuda 0-0 Hapoel Raanana

Bnei Yehuda finally got the so called monkey off their back as Drod Kashtan’s club picked up a point after 5 losses in a row. Raanana also came back from a defeat last week to split the spoils as they sit mid table in 7th position.

Football Israel Table 2013-14

Team PTS
Maccabi Tel Aviv 19
Hapoel Beer Sheva 14
Bnei Sakhnin 12
Hapoel Tel Aviv 11
Beitar Jerusalem 11
Kiryat Shemona 11
Hapoel Raanana 10
Hapoel Haifa 13
Maccabi Haifa 8
Ashdod 8
Hapoel Akko 8
Maccabi Petach Tikva 5
Bnei Yehuda 4
Hapoel Ramat HaSharon 0