Mac TA rallies to edge Hapoel Jerusalem

Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Hapoel Jerusalem 2-1 on Sunday night at Teddy Stadium as Osher Davida scored the second-half winner to hand the yellow-and-blue the three points in Israel Premier League action.

Ofek Bitton gave the capital city Reds a 1-0 lead with a goal against the run of play as the first half came to an end. But Eran Zahavi found the equalizer for visiting Maccabi 10 minutes into the second half.

With Robbie Keane’s squad pushing for the go-ahead goal, Osher Davida did exactly that as he found the back of the goal to give Tel Aviv the hard-earned away victory.

“It wasn’t easy especially when they scored the goal against the run of play,” Keane said following the game. “We weren’t sharp in certain areas, but we showed character to come back with a goal down as we saw the substitutions make an impact. We are concentrating on each game at a time.”

“We had a long break and we played well and prepared well but not good enough for Maccabi Tel Aviv,” Hapoel coach Ziv Arie said. “Maccabi is a team that always gets their chances, but we will work hard and we have a derby coming up later in the week and while it’s not ideal to go into that game after a loss we will be ready.”

Up by the Carmel Mountain, Maccabi Haifa just got by Hapoel Beersheba 1-0 with a late second-half injury-time goal via Dean David, who slotted home a tremendous pass by Lior Refaelov to take the points.

“The first half we should have been up 2-0 or 3-0, but we came out with nothing,” Haifa coach Messay Dego said. “We knew that Hapoel Beersheba hadn’t played in quite some time, but a goal in the 94th minute is very, very sweet. We have a lot of games coming up and we are playing with a short roster.”

“Our first half wasn’t great and we didn’t play at all to the pace of the game,” Beersheba bench boss Elyaniv Barda began. “In the second half we had three very good chances to win the game and we looked better, but it was still not enough. It’s tough to give up a goal so late in the game but we can’t dwell on that as we have another match in a couple of days.”

At Bloomfield Stadium, Hapoel Haifa slipped by Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-0 as Tomer Yosefi scored the lone goal of the contest in the 27th minute to take the win and the three points for the Carmel Reds.

“Hapoel Tel Aviv is a talented team and a very dangerous one,” Haifa coach Roni Levy began. “For our first game after returning to play I am very happy. There have been some very difficult days and God should watch over all of our soldiers who are in Gaza. I have to give credit to the guys as they gave it their all and I am content with how they performed.”

“We tried to control the ball as much as we could and create as many chances as possible,” said Hapoel Tel Aviv’s new coach Borja Lema, who took over from Michael Valkanis following the game. “We couldn’t find the goal and we will continue to work and improve. We played well and now we have to look ahead.”

Elsewhere, Hapoel Hadera blanked Maccabi Petah Tikva 3-0 thanks to Elad Madmon’s hat-trick as the club dedicated the win to captain Menashe Zalka, who is currently serving in IDF.

“The owner of the team asked a few weeks ago as to how much Elad Madmon is worth to us,” Hadera coach Niso Avitan said about the man of the match. “I told him that if someone offered a million euros he should take it, but now I would say the deal would be off. He’s very talented and I hope he will stay grounded and modest as his career continues.”

“I didn’t expect this,” Petah Tikva coach Benny Lam said. “Due to what has been going on in the country I guess that anything is possible. It just really surprised me and maybe I made a mistake with the lineup I used. It’s too bad, but I have to keep things calm and lift the guys’ spirits.

Meanwhile, Bnei Sakhnin and Maccabi Netanya played to a 1-1 draw to split the points up in the Galilee.

Eitan Azoulay opened the scoring when he latched onto a Guy Mizrachi ball to give Netanya a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute.

But Boris Enow was sent off at the start of the second half leaving the Diamond City side with only 10 players as they looked to hold onto the lead. However, Yoel Abuhatzeira found the equalizer in the 84th minute to earn a point for Sakhnin.

“For the entire stretch of the game we just weren’t good enough,” Netanya coach Ron Kozuk said. “The red card changed the complexion of the game. We knew it would be tough and that we would have to play right up until the end - we needed to keep the score as is and we didn’t do that.”

“We played decently,” Sakhnin coach Slobodan Drapic began. “We didn’t know exactly how we would look playing after not having had a game in two months. We didn’t have enough confidence in order to win, but we played against a good team that had a full complement of foreign players at their disposal while we just had one.”

At the Moshava Stadium, Hapoel Petah Tikva downed Beitar Jerusalem 1-0 as Fortune Bassey found the lone marker of the match in the 29th minute.

It looked as if Fred Friday had evened up the game for Beitar in the 80th minute, but his goal was judged to be offside by the VAR (Virtual Referee Assistant) as the hosts took the win.

“We had plenty of chances in this game in the first half and then in the second,” Petah Tikva coach Ofer Tesselpepe said. “We were able to take three very important points. The guys are working very hard and they come into every practice with the ultimate commitment and we can see that on the pitch as they play the exact same way.”

“Everything went against our team,” Beitar head coach Yossi Abukasis said. “We had some great chances in the second half but every single call seems to go against us and it’s a shame that this is the case. In the final 20 minutes, we had some very good chances, but the ball didn’t go into the goal.”

Maccabi Bnei Reineh and Ashdod SC played to a goalless draw as each team took a point for their efforts.