Early goal paces yellow-and-blue; Mac Haifa streaks on

Maccabi Tel Aviv moves atop Premier League standings with 3-1 victory over Hapoel Ra’anana.

By ALLON SINAI
Maccabi Tel Aviv's Munas Dabbur 370 (photo credit: Adi Avishai)
Maccabi Tel Aviv's Munas Dabbur 370
(photo credit: Adi Avishai)
A first-minute blitz ensured Maccabi Tel Aviv climbed back up to first place in the Premier League standings on Monday night, with the yellow-and-blue claiming a 3-1 victory over Hapoel Ra’anana at Bloomfield Stadium.
It took Maccabi just 38 seconds to move into the lead, with Munas Dabbur heading in the opener after some excellent build-up play by Tal Ben- Haim. The victory was all but wrapped up with the match not even six minutes old after Maharan Radi made the most of a melee in the Ra’anana box.
The hosts took their foot off the gas after that, but man-of-the-match Ben- Haim scored the goal he deserved in the 65th minute before Mamadou Toure (72) netted a consolation goal for Ra’anana, which dropped to just its second defeat of the season.
Also Monday, Maccabi Haifa’s revival continued with a third-straight victory.
Substitute Shoval Gozlan’s 86thminute winner gave the Greens a 2-1 victory over Hapoel Acre at Kiryat Eliezer Stadium.
Acre took a surprise lead in the ninth minute, with Juliano Spadacio’s shot from outside the box taking a deflection off Dekel Keinan’s head.
Haifa was finally rewarded for its pressure in the 52nd minute when Shlomi Azulai headed in the equalizer and 19-year-old Gozlan gave Haifa all three points after Acre was left with 10 men following Mirko Oremus’ sending off (75).