Maccabi Tel Aviv cruised past Hapoel Beer Sheva 4-1 as Ester Sokler scored a brace in the win that saw the yellow-and-blue pick up their third victory in as many games to start the season. Helio Varela set the tone early with a screamer of a strike to give Maccabi a 1-0 lead in the opening minute of play. Sokler scored his first of the match from the penalty spot to double the advantage while Eliel Peretz’s ensuing was sent off leaving the hosts with 10-men.

Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

But right before the break, Amir Ganah pulled a goal back to cut the lead to 2-1 at halftime. Sokler found the back of the goal again off a Varela cross while Peretz added a marker as well to take the 4-1 win. Up next is the Tel Aviv derby next Monday night as Maccabi will be the hosts against Hapoel who have a pair of wins and a draw thus far this campaign.

Kenny Miller – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

Kenny Miller spoke about the win, “Hapoel Beer Sheva is a very good team and we have to be at the top of our game against them. We started really well and we took our chances early. We had to make sure that we stayed consistent and when they went down to ten men we took the eye off the ball and I was disappointed and upset, but we made the changes that we needed to at halftime to make sure we picked up the pace.”

Ran Kozuk – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

Ran Kozuk looked back at the defeat, “We just didn’t show up and we started poorly by giving up a goal that wasn’t a Premier League goal. From there Lucas Ventura was injured and the snowball was rolling plus we then had a red card as well that reduced us to ten men. Maccabi scored a penalty we knew what type of game they wanted to play and what we wanted to do and we did the exact opposite.”

Helio. Varela – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

Maccabi got off to a quick start as Helio Varela polished off a terrific team play with a scorcher behind a helpless Ofir Marciano to take a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the match. Beer Sheva tried to get right back into the game with multiple corner kicks that came up empty while at the other end Gaby Kanichowsky’s attempt from the top of the box was magnificently saved by Marciano to keep the score as is after twenty minutes of play.

Ester Sokler – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

The yellow-and-blue doubled their advantage when Ester Sokler went in alone on Marciano but was tripped up as the ball ended up with Dor Peretz who pounded it into the back of the net from inside the box. But the referee Igal Fried whistled a penalty prior to the marker which Sokler promptly slotted it home for a 2-0 Maccabi lead. Eliel Peretz was then sent off for dissent with his second yellow card leaving the hosts with ten men, but just ahead of the break Amir Ganah on the left side beat Ofek Melika to head into the break with Kenny Miller’s squad up 2-1.

Despite being a man down, Ron Kozuk’s side pressed for the equalizer right out of the gate to begin the second half, but soon thereafter Maccabi took control of the pace of play as Issouf Sissokho‘s long range attempt just cleared the bar. As the match hit the 60th minute, Varela was tripped up in the box by Zahi Ahmed but Dor Peretz’s ensuing spot kick was saved by Marciano to keep the score as is.

Dor Peretz – Photo credit: Yehuda Halickman

Varela with terrific chance saw his attempt saved off the line by Amador but Sokler finished off a terrific play off the left wing that saw Varela give the striker a marvelous pass to easily convert to give Maccabi a 3-1 lead in the 67th minute. The visitors kept pushing for more as Peretz put home the rebound after a pair of saves by Marciano to polish off a dominant win by the yellow-and-blue.