Israel round-up: Maccabi mount serious challenge

Maccabi Haifa FC stepped up the pressure on Israeli Premier League leaders Hapoel Tel-Aviv with a narrow 1-0 win at Maccabi Petch-Tikva.

Single-point gap
The victory moved Maccabi Haifa to within a single point of Hapoel, who could only draw 1-1 at home to Hapoel Ironi Rishon. Maccabi Haifa’s slender win was secured by a 62nd-minute goal from subsitute Michael Zandberg.

Substitute strikes
Shortly after replacing Idan Tal, Zandberg eluded his marker and converted a cross from Avishai Zano. The replacement went close to doubling Maccabi Haifa’s advantage moments later, only to see his header cleared off the line by N'goi Ensombo.

Leaders frustrated
Meanwhile, Hapoel Tel-Aviv surprisingly fell behind to the bottom side when Haim Hagag gave Hapoel Ironi Rishon the lead after 19 minutes and, although Pini Balili equalised eleven minutes after half-time, the 1-1 draw was nevertheless a disappointing result for the leaders.

Surprise defeat
Third-placed Maccabi Tel-Aviv remained four points behind their local rivals and missed the chance to increase the pressure on the top two as they slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv. The away side lost Avi Strul to a red card nine minutes before half-time, and Bnei Yehuda exploited the man advantage in the second half.

Decisive second
Istvan Pishont’s goal seven minutes after the interval gave the home side the lead, and Vladimir Andonov effectively sealed the points 23 minutes from time as he made it 2-0. The defeat left Maccabi Tel-Aviv four points behind the leaders.

Important away success
Hapoel Beer-Sheva also suffered an unexpected defeat, second-bottom side Hapoel Kfar-Saba winning 2-1 against their fourth-placed opponents. Hapoel Beer-Sheva actually took the lead after 18 minutes through Bertoosh Tracholsky, but two second-half goals from Yaniv Abergil turned the match around, the striker producing a brilliant solo effort four minutes from time to secure three much-needed points for Hapoel Kfar-Saba.

Scoreless draws
Elsewhere, Beitar Jerusalem played out a 0-0 draw with Hapoel Petach-Tikva, while the match between Maccabi Netanya and FC Ashdod also ended goalless.