Beersheba, Beitar draw

Hapoel Beersheba and Beitar Jerusalem dueled to an entertaining Premier League 2-2 draw this week in a game that provided plenty of back-and-forth action and a goal deep into injury time off a set-piece by the southern squad’s captain Miguel Vitor.

Visiting Beitar opened the scoring as Hanan Maman sent a brilliant strike from the top left hand corner of the box into the top right hand corner of the goal by Beersheba ’keeper Ernestas Setkus for a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute. Minutes later, Beersheba coach Yossi Abuksis was shown a red card and was ejected when he argued a call by the referee, adding to the intensity of the contest.

The red card energized the Southern Reds as Tomer Yosefi sent a strong header behind Itamar Nitzan to pull even at the stroke of halftime. However, Roni

Levy’s team regained the lead in the 67th minute as striker Shlomi Azulay tapped in a Liron Rotman assist. But just as it looked like Beitar would capture its first Championship Playoff win, Elton Acolaste – who earlier in the day signed a new four-year contract with Beersheba – sent a pinpoint perfect corner kick into the area that Reds captain Miguel Vitor heeded home to split the points.

“I’m satisfied with the way we played,” said Abukasis following the match. “But I’m not content with the result. In previous games we had some players who played well and some that didn’t. In this game we put it together as many players did a good job. It’s not easy to play three games in a week and we are also thinking about the upcoming State Cup Final as well.”

Beitar Coach Roni Levy also reflected on the result.

“We had a good game and in general the guys did a good job both tactically and offensively. We scored some nice