Hapoel Beer Sheva slipped by Hapoel Jerusalem 2-1 as Igor Zlatanovic bagged a late brace to notch the comeback victory. The capital city reds took a first half lead via Vitalie Damascan who went coast-to-coast to beat keeper Ofir Marciano but Zlatanovic pounced all over a Javon east rebound to draw the southern reds even in the 74th minute. Ten minutes later East was tripped up in the box which earned Ofek Nadir a red card and Zlatanovic a penalty kick that he promptly put by Nadav Zamir to take the lead for good and close out the victory.

Beer Sheva Head Coach Ran Kozuk said, “We need to expect ourselves to show the passion we displayed in the second half, especially in the final 20 minutes. That comes before the football itself. The desire to prove ourselves, to win and to compete physically at every opportunity must be there regardless of fatigue.

Jerusalem Head Coach Lior Zada also spoke about the match, “The league teaches you a lot of things. We were too ambitious against Maccabi and Haifa and conceded five goals. We faced a quality opponent and suddenly we had to deal with Javon East and Igor Zlatanovic playing together. We needed to know how to defend against that.”