Hapoel Beersheba defeated Maccabi Netanya 4-2 as the Southern Reds came back from an early 2-0 deficit to score four unanswered goals, including a brace from Zahi Ahmed.
Netanya took charge of the matchup early on as Oz Bilu scored a quick brace in less than 10 minutes. Rotem Keller sent the striker a magnificent through ball as Bilu went in all alone on Hapoel Beersheba ’keeper Niv Eliasi for the first marker, while he added his second strike thanks to a terrific pass by Maor Levi in what was almost a carbon copy of the opening goal for a 2-0 lead in the 20th minute.
The Southern Reds began to wake up as Zahi Ahmed cut into the advantage by putting home a loose ball in the box past a helpless Omer Niron and then drew even via a Dan Bitton penalty kick after he had been taken down by Maxim Plakushenko in the 40th minute.
As both sides seemed content to head into the break all knotted up at 2-2, Eliel Peretz sent a ball into the area that caromed off of Karam Jaber to hand the visitors a 3-2 lead after a thoroughly entertaining first half of play.
Both sides continued their end-to-end play to begin the second half as both ’keepers needed to be on their toes.
However, Beersheba bumped the lead up to 4-2 when Ahmed scored his second of the game off a juicy rebound from a Kings Kangwa shot in the 63rd minute.
Things went from bad to worse for Netanya when Maor Levi was issued a red card, while Beersheba made wholesale substitutions to freshen up their squad and close out the win.
“We spoke before the game that Maccabi Netanya plays a certain way and that they have two ways to hurt us,”
Talking strategy
Beersheba coach Ron Kozuk began. “We knew we would be exposed with through balls and they also had an option to play through their defenders. They had space that they took advantage of, but I solved the issue by switching to playing the same formation as theirs. But I’m proud of the guys because they came back from a 2-0 deficit after having not played well over the past month. I’m proud of them for finding a way to win the game, but we also can’t be a team that concedes two goals a game.”
“This was a very bad result for us,” Maccabi Netanya coach Yossi Abukasis began. “We had a great half hour, we managed to close down Beersheba properly, but they changed their formation and usually we would be used to that type of move. We were not focused, we were arrogant, and we had turnovers after being up 2-0. When you do stupid things against Beersheba you will pay the price, and that’s where the game turned around.”
Beersheba captain Eliel Peretz spoke about the win.
“The game didn’t start out the way we thought it would, but we showed character, we didn’t give up and we didn’t take our foot off the gas for a second as we managed to turn the result around and we’re happy about that. We conceded goals from two of their attacks, we didn’t close them out properly, but I’m happy we made the necessary corrections ourselves later on and played our football.”
Netanya’s Heriberto Tavares looked back on the game from his point of view.
“I can’t describe now what happened in this game as I am tired, but we will sit and see what we did well and what we didn’t. We tried to focus and fix the mistakes on the pitch. We weren’t surprised with the quality of Hapoel Beersheba, but we will need to take a good look at what we need to improve.”
Meanwhile, Beitar Jerusalem slipped by Bnei Sakhnin as Omer Atzily scored a first-half brace to help the club take the victory and the three points at Doha Stadium in the Galilee.
The yellow-and-black took control of the pace of play from the outset against an undermanned Sakhnin side, as Omer Atzily launched a scorcher into the top right-hand corner of the goal to give the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute. However, Sakhnin found the equalizer when Ahmed Salman’s shot caromed off a yellow-and-black defender and right to Basil Khouri, who beat the Beitar ’keeper Miguel Silva to knot the score at 1-1 just before the break.
But, in first-half stoppage time, Timothy Muzi was pushed down in the box, handing Beitar a chance to take the lead once again, which they promptly did as Atzily scored from the penalty spot to take a 2-1 lead into halftime.
Barak Itzhaki’s team looked to double its advantage throughout the second half, as it had one chance after the next to do so but hit the posts and crossbar on a number of occasions as it wrapped up the one-goal victory.
“We took three points at a very difficult stadium,” Beitar head coach Barak Itzhaki began. “I’ll take those points and parts of the game, but there were times where we didn’t play fast enough. We could have scored more, but we will work on that as we look ahead. These are the types of games that you need to know how to win by the skin of your teeth, which we didn’t last season.”
“We have some very good players here that gave a lot of heart and soul to match up with Beitar, and they deserve credit for that due to our short bench as we were missing so many regular players,” Sakhnin bench boss Sharon Mimer said following the game.