Vermouth leads Hap Haifa to derby triumph
Hadera holds Beersheba to draw • Mac TA ties Petah Tikva • Ra’anana edges Jerusalem
Hapoel Haifa painted the Carmel Mountain Red as Sharon Mimer’s side defeated Eli Gutman’s Maccabi Haifa 3-1 in front of over 30,000 fans at a sold out Sammy Ofer Stadium. Hapoel dominated play form the get go as former Green Gili Vermouth bagged a brace scoring a goal in each half to propel his squad to the hard-earned victory.
Ben Azubel gave Hapoel a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute when Nes Zamir sent him a beautiful pass after a give-and-go to put the Haifa Reds ahead beating Guy Haimov from 10 meters. Mimer’s side doubled its advantage in the 20th minute when Vermouth stole the ball from Etienne Reijnen in the middle of the pitch and went in all alone to beat Haimov, stunning the Maccabi Haifa home crowd.
Vermouth added to his former team’s misery in the 55th minute to give Hapoel Haifa a 3-0 lead when Sean Goldberg picked off the ball and sent it to the aforementioned Vermouth who beat Haimov from 20 meters out. However, Maccabi Haifa was gifted a 72nd minute marker when Gabriel Tamas couldn’t properly clear a corner kick that he put into his own goal pulling the Greens to within 3-1.
Gutman’s side had marvelous chance to cut the advantage yet again via an 80th minute penalty, but Ernestas Setkus made the stop on Nikita Rukavytsya’s spot kick as he dove to his left to make the timely save as Hapoel grabbed the derby win.
Winning coach Sharon Mimer was all smiles following the victory.
“The players fulfilled the instructions as best as possible after we worked so hard during the break and we reached our goal. Gili Vermouth doesn’t have to prove to anyone what he’s worth. He’s a wonderful player with a tremendous amount of quality.”
The man of the match Vermouth added, “Wow, what a match. I’ll remember this game for a long time. It was a fantastic experience and the most important part was that we took the three points.”
Hapoel Hadera held Hapoel Beersheba to a 2-2 draw at Turner Stadium in the country’s southern capital city as the side’s split the points. The hosts struck first in the 5th minute when Eden Ben Basat worked his way into the box and from the left side sent a ball that hit off the far post right to an oncoming Ben Sahar who tapped it in for the easy goal.
However, the lead didn’t last long when five minutes later, Ange-Freddy Plumain went by a number of Beersheba defenders including Arik Sabo and put the ball behind Ariel Harush to draw even at 1-1.
Hatem Abd Elhamed gave the hosts the lead once again in the 24th minute when he pounded home a rebound by Austin Ejide giving Barak Bachar’s club a 2-1 lead. But as Hadera has done so many times this season, it found the last gasp equalizer when Maxim Grechkin lofted a beautiful ball to Dovev Gabbay who headed it home as each squad collected a point.
Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Petah Tikva each picked up a point in a dramatic 1-1 draw at the Moshava Stadium. Tomas Sivok beat Maccabi keeper Predrag Rajkovic via a header in a 93rd-minute header off a corner just as the contest came to an end.
Dor Peretz scored a header of his own in the 23rd minute to give the visiting yellow-and-blue a first-half lead thanks to an Omer Atzilii pass but it wasn’t enough to take all three points.
Bnei Sakhin visited Bnei Yehuda at the Moshava Stadium and took back a 1-0 win to the Galilee town in head coach Amir Turgeman’s debut on the sidelines.
The loss was Yossi Abuksis’s squad’s first home defeat of the season. George Akpabio took the ball down the right wing and sent a cross into the area that Shlomi Azoulay sent into the goal from ten meters to take the three points.
Hapoel Ra’anaana recorded a 2-1 win over 10-man Beitar Jerusalem thanks to a second half brace by Yoav Tomer leaving the capital city side in the league basement. Tomer’s first goal for Menachem Koretzky’s side beat Beitar ’keeper on the short side after he made his way by a couple of defenders in the 63rd minute, while his second strike nine minutes later came off a beautiful back heal by Adi Nimni.
Nir Kilnger’s Jerusalem was able to pull an 83rd-minute goal back on a Yakov Brihon effort but it was too little, too late as Aaron Olanare’s 44th minute red card left Beitar reeling for a full half.
In his first game as the Ashdod coach, Yuval Naim needed a sixth-minute Dean David goal to pick up his first win in charge of the port city side, 1-0 over visiting Kiryat Shmona.
An early counter attack led by Dan Bitton was finished off by David to give the hosts the lead, but Kiryat Shmona had an opportunity to draw even on a 67th minute penalty. Valon Ahmedi stepped up to take the spot kick, but Yoav Gerrafi made a terrific save to secure the three points and the win.
Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Netanya ended in a 1-1 draw as Omer Damari’s first half goal for
Ofir Haim’s Red squad was canceled out by a second half Guy Melamed’s penalty as the sides split the points.