Israel round-up: Hapoel close gap on Haifa

Hapoel Beer-Sheva became just the second side to beat Maccabi Haifa FC in the Israeli league this season as they ran out 2-0 winners tonight.

Up to fourth
Beer-Sheva's victory ended a run of four matches without a win and moved them up to fourth in the table, while Haifa's lead at the top has now been halved after the weekend's action. Haifa fell behind after 30 minutes when Rami Abu Laben struck with a curled right-foot shot into the top corner.

Solo effort
Abu Laben's celebrations were shortlived as he was carried off just four minutes later with an ankle fracture which looks set to sideline him for at least three months. However, Beer-Sheva  secured the points in the 72nd minute with a solo effort from Tomer Haliva and Haifa's misery was complete when Eyal Almoshnino was sent off late on.

Hapoel narrow gap
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC narrowed the gap on Haifa to three points with a convincing 3-1 victory over city rivals Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC at a Bloomfield stadium which was packed to its 17,000 capacity on Saturday.

Unbeaten derby run
Hapoel's victory, which stretched their unbeaten derby record to nine league matches, was achieved thanks to goals by Salim Tuamah, Pini Balili and Ben Luz. Balili's effort from 35 metres was one of the goals of the season so far.

Beitar win comfortably
Elsewhere, Beitar Jerusalem ran out 5-0 winners in their home match with FC Ashdod. Beitar's victory helped them climb up to sixth in the table while Ashdod are languishing at the bottom with eight points. Eli Sasson with two goals led the scoring, while Ofer Talkar, Andzej Kubika and Itzik Zohar, with his 130th career goal, also got on the scoresheet.
 
Rosen winner
Eli Rosen's 86th-minute penalty moved Maccabi Petach-Tikva off the bottom of the table and secured only their second victory of the season as they beat Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv 2-1. Finally, a four-goal blitz in the first half saw Maccabi Netanya end Hapoel Kfar-Saba's run of two successive victories with a 4-1 win.