Soccer: Bnei Yehuda in thick of relegation battles

In what quite probably is its last chance to revive its survival hopes, Bnei Yehuda hosts Hapoel Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium.

By ALLON SINAI
bnei yehuda 88 (photo credit: )
bnei yehuda 88
(photo credit: )
Four of the bottom five teams in the Premier League face off on Saturday in two matches with serious implications on the battle against relegation. In what quite probably is its last chance to revive its survival hopes, Bnei Yehuda hosts Hapoel Tel Aviv at Bloomfield Stadium. The club from southern Tel Aviv has only managed one win in its last 18 league matches and is eight points from safety with 10 matches to play. The introduction of new coach Eli Cohen had practically no impact on the side's results and another loss on Saturday will see the team fall a massive 11 points behind fellow struggler Hapoel. The Reds are just as desperate for the points and are still reeling from conceding an 89th minute winner in last weeks derby match against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Hapoel, which is just one point above Ashdod SC and the relegation zone, scored the opener in its last two league matches, but was defeated in both nevertheless. Eli Gutman's men were far from impressive in Beer Sheba on Wednesday, but did at least manage to return to winning ways with a 1-0 victory in the State Cup last 16. Maccabi Tel Aviv can put further distance between itself and the bottom two with a win at Maccabi Herzliya on Saturday. The yellow-and-blue has lost just once in its last six matches and will be in a confident mood after last week's derby win. Remarkably, Herzliya has drawn five of its last seven games, but on Saturday the team can't afford to settle for one point once more. Ashdod has an excellent chance to make up some lost ground on Saturday when its hosts Hapoel Kfar Saba. Ashdod moved within one point of Hapoel Tel Aviv last week with a 3-0 win at Maccabi Petah Tikva and an erratic Kfar Saba team is an ideal opponent against which to claim a second straight victory. Also Saturday, Ironi Kiryat Shmona will look to rack up three more points in its chase of a UEFA Cup berth when it hosts Bnei Sakhnin and Maccabi Petah Tikva has the unenviable task of facing Betar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium. On Sunday, Maccabi Netanya hosts Maccabi Haifa in a repeat of Wednesday's last 16 State Cup tie in which Netanya prevailed.