Hap TA catches Maccabi, still trails on differential

Gili Vermut’s first Premier League goal in almost two years gave Hapoel Tel Aviv a 2-1 victory at Ashdod SC on Monday night, giving the Reds their fourth straight victory.

David Revivo gave third-placed Ashdod the lead in first half stoppage time, but Toto Tamuz equalized in the 59th minute before Vermut scored the winner with a superb solo effort eight minutes from time.

“This was a very tough match against a very strong team,” said Hapoel coach Yossi Abuksis after seeing his team moved tied on points with league-leader Maccabi Tel Aviv once more.

“We were poor in the first half, but we seized control after the break and showed a significant improvement. Gili scored a great goal for us and we need him in this form” Hapoel failed to show up for the first half and Ashdod should have really taken the lead in the 42nd minute, with Nir Biton squandering a golden opportunity.

However, Biton’s miss was quickly forgotten, with Revivo finding the back of the net from the corner of the box after his shot took a slight deflection off Hapoel’s Eric Djemba Djemba.

Tel Aviv was a different team in the second half and it netted a deserved equalizer in the 59th minute.

Tamuz was clinical in front of goal once more after scoring a hat-trick against Hapoel Beersheba last week and it only seemed to be a matter of time until Tel Aviv would net the winner.

It finally arrived in the 82nd minute, with Vermut slicing the Ashdod defense before coolly placing the ball in the corner of Ofir Marziano’s goal to give the Reds all three points.

“I can’t explain what happened to us between the first half and the second,” said Ashdod coach Yossi Mizrahi.

“We let them move the ball and they made the most of their chances.

In the second half their goalkeeper didn’t touch the ball and you can’t win like that.”