Maccabi Haifa thumped Ashdod SC 5-0 on Monday night as super striker Frantzdy Pierrot scored four goals in the first half to put the contest away and hand the Greens the three points on the road.
Messay Dego’s squad got on the board early as Pierrot slotted home the opening goal from a Sean Goldberg pass in the seventh minute. However, 10 minutes later, Ezekiel Henty was sent off for Ashdod with a straight red card, leaving the port city squad with just 10 men for the balance of the match.
Pierre Conrad took advantage of the extra man as he found the back of the goal in the 22nd minute, and three minutes later, Anan Khalaili found Pierrot for his second marker of the game for a 3-0 lead. Gadi Kinda then helped orchestrate Pierrot’s third and fourth goals before the break to wrap up the easy victory.
“We played really well and we knew that we were playing against a team that was going to fight for their lives,” Dego said after the win. “But we now have to keep going on. Frantzdy always looks to do his best for the club and he is a player of the highest of levels. He is very modest and I really appreciate him and the guys like him very much.”
Pierrot also spoke about his four-goal outing.
“This is the first time in my career that I scored four goals in a game, it’s a great feeling. The fans are always there for us wherever we play, good or bad and it’s always emotional as they wanted this for me and I wanted to do it for them. I am just trying to do what I can for the team because the most important part is to win games. I know I will get the opportunity if I work hard. I give credit to all my teammates because without them I wouldn’t have been able to score the four goals. For strikers, there are ups and downs and when the right time comes you have to just keep working.”
“It’s a horrible feeling and to lose the game in the first half is awful,” Ashdod coach Elii Levy said. “I want to apologize to the fans for this. Maccabi Haifa is so much better than us and we wanted to cut down the gap between the two teams but now we have to look towards the next game and move on.”
In other action, Maccabi Tel Aviv slipped by Hapoel Beersheba 1-0 as Milson scored the lone goal of the game in the 41st minute to hand the yellow-and-blue the three points to keep pace with Maccabi Haifa atop the table.
“We should have scored a second goal,” said Maccabi coach Robbie Keane. “That’s soccer and nothing comes easy. We had a number of chances to make it 2-0 and they had a very good opportunity near the end of the game. I don’t think they really gave us too much trouble but Beersheba is a good team, organized and I enjoyed this battle.”
“This was a game that we just didn’t deserve to lose,” Beersheba coach Elyaniv Barda said. “The first half was fairly even until the goal, and in the second half we were much better than Maccabi Tel Aviv, whose ’keeper kept wasting time, at least five minutes worth. I’m very happy with our second half and if we could have scored we would have won.”
Meanwhile, Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Netanya played to a goalless draw as the teams split the points in Barak Itzhaki’s debut as the capital city squad’s new head coach.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to come to coach Beitar,” Itzahki said following the game. “It was a tough and dangerous decision to make, but I am connected to this place. Beitar Jerusalem is a club with a lot of pressure especially in the current situation. The goal is to collect as many points as possible in the regular season up until the playoffs. The club is in a situation where it can be relegated and we will do as much as we can to make sure that does not occur.”
At the Moshava Stadium, Maccabi Petah Tikva trounced Hapoel Tel Aviv 3-0 as Ben Sahar bagged a brace in the win.
Luka Stor gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute as he found the left-hand corner of the Reds goal. The situation for Yossi Abukasis’s side went from bad to worse when El Yam Kancepolski was handed a straight red card for a reckless foul in the midfield just before halftime, leaving his squad with 10 men.
Sahar then scored his first of the game in first-half injury time to double the advantage and polished off the victory with his second in the 65th minute to wrap up the win.
“The direction here has changed and that is what has made a big difference over the last few weeks,” Petah Tikva coach Ron Kozuk said. “I believe in an offensive style of game with high pressure and it was crucial for me to bring my philosophy to the club when I came on board. Ben Sahar has worked very hard and we can see that he has contributed but most importantly on the defensive side as well.”
“Nothing worked for us,” Abukasis lamented after the game. “We didn’t get into the game and we made all kinds of mistakes. This is going to be a tough relegation battle and we will have to deal with it together as a team.”
Elsewhere, Bnei Sakhnin downed Hapoel Haifa 2-1 to take the points.
The visitors grabbed a quick 2-0 lead as Claudio Spinelli and Stephane Omeonga scored in the eighth and 18th minutes while the Carmel Reds saw Hatem Abd Elhamed draw to within a lone marker in the 65th minute. But that was as close as the hosts would get as Sakhin took the points and the victory.
“When we want to, we can play better” Sakhnin head coach Slobodan Drapic said. “We scored our goals just at the right time. We have had some good games and good halves but we couldn’t kill off the game as we are a young team and not that experienced. We are building something here and we want to go as far as we can.”
Also, Hapoel Hadera and Hapoel Jerusalem drew 1-1 as the two squads split the points.
Godsway Donio gave Hadera a quick 1-0 lead in the second minute, but five minutes later Matan Hozez slotted home a penalty to even up the score as each side earned a point for their efforts.
“We wanted to win the game and opened up very well both offensively and defensively,” Hadera coach Haim Silvas said. “We were able to stop Hapoel Jerusalem and kept them at bay for the most part but in the second half we were more so-so and ultimately the draw is fine. I am happy with how the guys really battled.”
“The first half we had a lot of luck and the pitch was not very good,” Jerusalem bench boss Ziv Arie said. “We were lucky to draw even and the play was not that great but it was what it was and we took a point.”