Israel round-up: Leaders keep on winning

Maccabi Haifa FC and Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC kept the status quo at the top of the table with impressive wins this weekend. Haifa earned a 5-2 win against Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv, while Maccabi Tel-Aviv won 5-0 against Maccabi Netanya to stay three points behind the league leaders.

Long-range shot
With a UEFA Champions League date with Olympiakos Piraeus FC looming on Wednesday, Haifa coach Yitzhak Schum rested some first-team players, but it did not stop them taking a 16th-minute lead through Nenad Pralija. Bnei Yehuda levelled the scores 15 minutes later as Vladimir Endonov's long-range effort surprised Dudu Awat from 30 metres.

Late rush
Yaniv Katan produced a terrific shot to restore Haifa's lead four minutes into the second half, but Bnei Yehuda equalised again through as Salah Hassarma met Roni Gafni's cross to beat Awat again after 61 minutes. However, when Yakoubou Ayegbeni scored from the penalty spot four minutes later for Haifa, Bnei Yehuda had no answer and conceded two further goals through Avishai Zano and Giovani Rosso.

Nimni hat-trick
It was much more straightforward for Maccabi Tel-Aviv as an Avi Nimni hat-trick propelled them to victory against Netanya. A sixth-minute strike and a 22nd-minute penalty for Nimni were followed by an Andreas Prochanenkovs goal five minutes from the interval. Nimni completed his hat-trick after 68 minutes, before substitute Rodrigo Goldberg added a fifth with 15 minutes to go.

Joy for Hapoel
A 2-0 win at Hapoel Beer-Sheva on Sunday saw Hapoel Tel-Aviv join Maccabi Tel-Aviv on 18 points. Avi Knafo opened the scoring for the visitors five minutes from half-time before Kfir Udi struck with three minutes of the game remaining to complete the scoring.

Beitar thrashed
Elsewhere this weekend, Beitar Jerusalem suffered a 4-0 defeat at Hapoel Ironi Rishon. Moshe Sabag opened the scoring after 22 minutes before Dani Albert extended the home side's lead with a 55th-minute strike and Shai Holtzman added two more in the 60th and 66th minutes.

Second-half comeback
Despite conceding first Maccabi Petach-Tikva completed an impressive second-half comeback to beat bottom of the table Hapoel Kfar-Saba 3-1. After a goalless first period Tomer Shem Tov's powerful right foot shot beat Ohad Cohen in the 54th minute. Three minutes later Ngoi Nsombo headed in the equaliser following an accurate cross by Kobi Ganon. In the 66th minute Kobi Refuah completed the comeback while Lior Asulin's 90th-minute goal sealed the win. The weekend's other game ended in a goalless draw between Hapoel Petach-Tikva and FC Ashdod.