Maccabi Haifa went two points clear at the top of the Israeli Premier Leauge standings on Saturday with a wonderful 3-0 victory at Hakoach Amidar Ramat Gan. The away side's free-flowing soccer proved too much for a Hakoach side that looked out of sorts from the kick-off. Also Saturday, Maccabi Tel Aviv's season went from bad to worse as Ran Ben-Shimon's troops lost 1-0 at Bloomfield to Ironi Kiryat Shmona and Maccabi Netanya was held 2-2 by Bnei Yehuda at home. At Winter Stadium in Ramat Gan, the Haifa blitz began as early as the 12th minute. The magnificent Yaniv Katan rode a couple of challenges on the right before playing it to John Culma. The Colombian found Lior Rafaelov on the left, who broke into the area, beat Yisrael Rosh and finished with aplomb. The table-toppers doubled their advantage five minutes later. Katan picked out Gustavo Boccoli with a wonderful cross-field ball and the Brazilian hit a cracking first-time volley into the corner. It was game over 10 minutes after the break. Rafaelov tackled Daniel Unger near the half-way line and found Katan down the right. The striker looked up and picked out the onrushing Biram Kiyal, who smashed the ball in from close range. It could have gotten even worse for Hakoach on 77 minutes, but the on-form Thembinkosi Fanteni hit the post after nonchalantly beating Aviv Haddad. Maccabi Netanya 2, Bnei Yehuda 2 Dele Aiyenugba's 90th minute save from an Itai Shechter penalty gave Bnei Yehuda a deserved draw against high-flying Maccabi Netanya on Saturday. Netanya started brightly with Cameroonian Thierry Tazemeta celebrating his return from a long injury layoff by heading in a Daniel Humberto corner to put the home team 1-0 up after 13 minutes. Bnei Yehuda hit back early in the second half. Kfir Edri found Pedro Galvan down the left and the Argentine's astute cross was nodded home by Assi Baldout. Guy Luzon's men kept plugging away and went ahead in the 67th minute thanks to some audacious skill from Galvan. The midfielder beat Humberto with a brilliant backward nutmeg and cut the ball back to Eliran Atar, who found the net after a terrific turn. Bnei Yehuda's lead lasted just 12 minutes as Dela Yampolsky rose unchallenged to meet a Dedi Ben-Dayan corner and plant a great header high into the net. Bnei Sakhnin 0, Hapoel Petah Tikva 3 Shimon Abuhatzera just can't stop scoring. The Petah Tikva striker is the league's top marksman with eight goals after his brace at Doha Stadium against struggling Sakhnin. The Under-21 international scored his first after 20 minutes, heading in a Junior Viza cross, and doubled his tally just two minutes later, latching on to Viza's rebounded effort and slotting the ball home. Nevertheless, the Hapoel striker showed his immaturity 15 minutes from time when he picked up a second yellow card for a deliberate handball. It was 10 against 10 for the last minute of the game after Sakhnin keeper Meir Cohen received his marching orders for handling outside his area. Sakhnin midfielder Khaled Khalaila went in goal and his first task was to pick the ball out of the net after Ori Uzan scored the ensuing free-kick. Maccabi Petah Tikva 2, Ashdod SC 3 After four straight away defeats, Ashdod finally picked up three points on its travels on Saturday with a narrow win at Maccabi Petah Tikva. Baruch Dego's composed finish from a David Revivo pass put Ashdod 1-0 up after just nine minutes, but Lior Asulin equalized from the penalty spot two minutes later. Ashdod regained the lead six minutes into the second half when Cristian Gonzalez headed in a Revivo cross, and the away side went 3-1 up with a quarter of an hour to play, Idan Shriki smashing in the rebound after a Dimitar Makriev shot was saved by Ohad Cohen. The home team scored a consolation goal a minute from time when Ashdod's Rogerio dos Santos headed an Ismael Amer center into his own net. Maccabi Tel Aviv 0, Ironi Kiryat Shmona 1 The Maccabi Tel Aviv fans vented their anger at Ran Ben-Shimon on Saturday afternoon, calling for the coach's head as their team suffered its third defeat of the season. The only goal of the game came in the 59th minute when Ironi striker Eden Ben Basat smashed in a half-volley after an Omer Peretz flick-on. Maccabi has accrued a woeful nine points from a possible 24 so far this season.
