Beersheba upsets Mac Haifa in feisty affair

• Published date: 04 October 2021
• Author: JOSHUA HALICKMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The Greens took it right to the Southern Reds from the get-go as they dominated play early and scored via a Dolev Haziza penalty kick after Omer Atzili had been pulled down in the box.

Things went from bad to worse for Roni Levy's team when Roie Gordana was sent off for a reckless tackle in the 19th minute and 'keeper Ariel Harush injured his shoulder and had to leave the game.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

>

However, Beersheba made substitutes to compensate and Barak Bachar's side couldn't take advantage of the extra man.

In the 83rd minute, Atzili cleared the ball from the Haifa goal line with his hand and was sent off as Eyad Avi Abid scored from the spit to draw even at 1-1. Ten minutes later, and into injury time, Itay Shechter was yanked down from behind by Ofri Arad, who was handed a red card as Abu Abid once again stepped up to the penalty spot and gave Beersheba the victory.

"This was a very tough game that didn't begin well with the penalty and red card," said winning coach Roni Levy. "But the players gave their heart and soul and together with the fans we were able to make this incredible comeback."

Bachar also reflected on the squandered opportunity by his side.

"The game was in our hands and then we made some mistakes," said the Haifa coach following the contest. "We had to push to get a second goal and we shouldn't have allowed these crazy situations to occur, but they did."

At Bloomfield Stadium, Maccabi Tel Aviv just got by Hapoel Jerusalem 1-0 as the yellow-and-blue needed an 85th-minute goal from Eduardo Guerrero to break the scoreless deadlock and give the hosts the points.

The capital city Reds remained goalless, yet to find the back of the goal after five games this campaign.

"We have to be ready and stay calm for these types of games," said Maccabi coach Patrick van Leeuwen. "We need to make sure that we make the right decisions early on as teams like Jerusalem come to defend and not give up a goal. We have to score first and score as soon as possible."

Jerusalem bench boss Ziv Arie commented on his team's lack of scoring.

"We battled and played well defensively, but we weren't able to control the ball. We came close to a draw but we gave up a goal after a corner. We haven't created enough chances in any of our games, but we will keep working hard until we score and everyone can stop talking about it."

Elsewhere, Hapoel Tel Aviv...