Maccabi Tel Aviv ensured itself another week at the top of the Premier League
standings on Saturday with a comfortable 4-0 victory over rock-bottom Hapoel
Acre at Bloomfield Stadium.
The yellow-and-blue lost 1-0 at Ashdod SC
last week, failing to win for a fourth consecutive road match. However, Tel Aviv
continued to reign supreme at Bloomfield on Saturday, claiming its ninth win in
10 home encounters.
Early goals by Dor Micha (8) and Shiran Yeini (12)
effectively clinched the three points for Maccabi before Eliran Atar netted a
second-half brace (54, 63) to take his tally for the season to 18 goals and
improve Maccabi’s goal difference over its past five home wins to
21-3.
“We are playing very well here at Bloomfield and are more accurate
than our road games,” said Maccabi coach Oscar Garcia after seeing his team open
a five-point gap.
Second-placed Hapoel Tel Aviv visits Maccabi Haifa on
Sunday, looking to close back to within two points of its arch-rival. However,
Haifa has got momentum on its side entering Sunday’s showdown, with the Greens
winning eight of their past nine games, outscoring their opponents
19-3.
Betar Jerusalem missed an opportunity to leapfrog Haifa into third
place on Saturday, losing 1-0 to Bnei Yehuda at Teddy Stadium for its first
defeat in nine matches.
Amir Agajev scored the only goal of the match in
the 43rd minute, with Betar failing to replicate its form from recent
weeks.
Earlier Saturday, Betar owner Arkadi Gaydamak announced that the
club is set to sign Dzhabrail Kadiyev and Zaur Sadayev from Chechen club Terek
Grozny.
The expected addition of the two Muslim players angered many of
the Betar fans who reacted by singing racist anti-Arab songs during Saturday’s
match.
Hapoel Ramat Hasharon climbed up to sixth place on Saturday,
thrashing Bnei Sakhnin 4- 0 at Doha Stadium.
The visitors essentially
secured the victory by the 19th minute, with Udo Fortune (7), Adrian Fernandez
(13) and Efraim Taka (19) giving Ramat Hasharon a flying start before Asael
Ben-Shabat (86) wrapped up the scoring.
Sakhnin dropped to 11th place
after a 92nd-minute Omer Peretz goal gave Maccabi Netanya a 1- 1 draw against
fellow-struggler Hapoel Ramat Gan.
David Manga (64) gave the visitors the
lead, but Peretz’s stoppage- time header ensured Netanya clinched a precious
point.
Also Saturday, Ironi Kiryat Shmona and Ashdod SC shared the points
after a 0-0 deadlock.
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