Bnei Sakhnin overcame an early deficit to Maccabi Tel Aviv to record a 3-1 win at Doha Stadium. Enric Saborit gave the yellow-and-blue a 1-0 lead from the penalty spot in the 7th minute but Abdallah Jaber found the equalizer twenty minutes later to send the game into the second half all knotted up a 1-1.

However, Raz Stain found himself wide open from 12 meters out and put the ball into the top corner of Daniel Peretz’s goal to give Sharon Mimer’s squad a shocking 2-1 lead in the 74th minute. As Patrick Van Leeuwen’s side looked for a split of the points, Nir Lax went steaming down the pitch and scored from a tough angle to hand Sakhnin the dominant two-goal win.

Hapoel Tel Aviv defeated Ashdod in a 2-1 win as the Reds controlled the game from the outset at Bloomfield Stadium. After a goalless first half, Doron Leidner opened the scoring when he low shot from long distance skipped by Ashdod keeper Yoav Gerafi to give the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 59th minute. Ofek Bitton doubled the advantage in the 88th minute also from outside of the box as it looked that Hapoel Tel Aviv would cruise to the victory, However, just two minutes later Oz Bilu cut the advantage to 2-1 when his shot went off of a Hapoel defender to put a scare into the hosts but Ashdod was unable to find the goal once more as the Reds recorded the win.

Hapoel Beer Sheva blanked Beitar Jerusalem 2-0 at Teddy Stadium. The game began at a frantic pace with each side trading chances as the yellow-and-black almost grabbed the lead off an Eden Gyasi header but southern reds keeper Ariel Harush made the timely save. Roni Levy’s squad tried to breakthrough the Beitar defense but time and time again keeper Itamar Nitzan was in place to make the stop as the first half ended goalless.

Beer Sheva began to press for a go-ahead goal and found it when an unattended Itay Shechter stabbed home a Ramzi Safouri free kick in the 55th minute. The southern reds doubled their advantage a quarter hour later when Safouri slotted home a penalty to wrap up the victory and the 3-points.

Hapoel Hadera played superbly against Maccabi Haifa to stymie the defending champs and take a point in a goalless draw at the Netanya Stadium. Menachem Korertzky’s squad had the better scoring chances throughout the 90 minutes as Muhammad Ghadir missed a pair of terrific opportunities from inclose that would have given the hosts the win. But it wasn’t meant to be as the teams split the points leaving the Greens and their coach Barak Bachar disappointed with their season opening result.

Maccabi Petah Tikva and Kiryat Shemona played to a 1-1 draw to split the points at the Moshava Stadium. Stefen Milosevic gave the visiting northern squad a surprise 1-0 lead as the Montenegrin striker out home a poor clearance by the Petah Tikva defense in the 23rd minute. However, James Adeniyi was pulled down in the box in the second half as Shimon Daniel converted the spot kick to earn a point.

Hapoel Haifa and Maccabi Netanya played to a dull goalless draw at Sammy Ofer Stadium while Hapoel Nof HaGalil and Hapoel Jerusalem did the same up in the Galilee.