Beersheba extends perfect start with dramatic win

The last time Beersheba began a season with three straight wins was the 1974/75 campaign.

By ALLON SINAI
Hapoel Beersheba's Dovev Gabay370 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Hapoel Beersheba's Dovev Gabay370
(photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Despite trailing 1-0 until the 87th minute, Hapoel Beersheba made it four wins from four Premier League matches on Monday night, mounting a memorable comeback to defeat Bnei Yehuda 2-1 at Vasermil Stadium.
Bnei Yehuda went in front through Oz Raly’s header in the 14th minute, but it settled for soaking up Beersheba’s pressure after that and paid the price in the closing stages after it found itself down to 10 men following Kestutis Ivaskevicius controversial sending off in the 78th minute.
Glynor Plet equalized in the 87th minute and fellow substitute Nicolas Falczuk scored the winner in the first minute of stoppage time courtesy of a fortuitous deflection off Bnei Yehuda defender Gal Cohen.
The last time Beersheba began a season with three straight wins was the 1974/75 campaign, when it also won its first championship, but even then it went on to lose its fourth match.
“This is what the fans buy a ticket for,” said Beersheba coach Elisha Levy, whose team joined first-place Maccabi Tel Aviv on 12 points. “We showed the potential this team has in the second half. I don’t think it would be right or realistic to be talking about winning the championship at this stage. In order to be at the level of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa we still need to prove our strength. I want to see us going to Haifa next week and playing with ambition and then we will be able to talk.”
Bnei Yehuda took the lead in one of the only times it ventured forward throughout the match.
Raly perfectly placed a header in the top left corner, with Beersheba goalkeeper Austin Ejide helplessly stranded on the goal-line.
Beersheba dominated the possession in the remainder of the match, but Bnei Yehuda limited it to very few scoring opportunities, with the hosts failing to register a single shot on target in the first half.
Beersheba coach Levy introduced Plet in place of Maor Buzaglo and Tomer Swisa instead of Dovev Gabay in the hope of boosting his team’s attacking options, but it still seemed Bnei Yehuda would hold on for all three points.
However, that all changed in the 78th minute when Bnei Yehuda’s Lithuanian midfielder Ivaskevicius was harshly sent off by referee Roei Reinshriber for unintentionally handling the ball.
Plet headed in the equalizer in the 87th minute and Falczuk netted the second from the edge of the box to give Beersheba three more hard-fought points and spark delirium at Vasermil.