Local Soccer: Mac Haifa eager to take points off Mac TA

Hapoel Beersheba climbs to seventh by beating Bnei Sakhnin 1-0 through Barak Badash’s penalty.

By ALLON SINAI
After an excellent run which saw it close in on the top two, Maccabi Tel Aviv has picked up just a single point from its last three matches and visits Maccabi Haifa on Monday night in perhaps the worst possible timing.
Tel Aviv put together a six-match winning streak last month, but was brought down to earth in painful fashion by Hapoel Tel Aviv three weeks ago, before suffering another defeat against Maccabi Petah Tikva and only managing a draw at home against Hapoel Beersheba last week.
Haifa, on the other hand, has won six of its last seven matches and an amazing 22 of 25 encounters so far this campaign.
Elisha Levy’s men will be desperate to reopen their double-digit margin over Hapoel Tel Aviv on Monday, with their gap to be halved in just four weeks time.
“The important thing for us is to win the match. We have no interest inrevenge,” said Haifa coach Elisha Levy, whose team had its 10-matchwinning streak to start the season ended by a 1-0 loss at Maccabi TelAviv.
“We’ve learned that there is no such thing as an easy match and we will be ready for anything.”
Meanwhile,Hapoel Beersheba climbed to seventh position in the Premier Leaguestandings on Sunday, beating Bnei Sakhnin 1-0 through Barak Badash’s73rd minute penalty kick.