Elisha Levy: “It will be close until the end”

The Premier League soccer race got tighter yesterday, after Maccabi Netanya dominated table-leading Maccabi Haifa in a 2-0 victory. The win puts Netanya back into second place above Hapoel Tel Aviv, which drew on Saturday, and only one win behind Haifa.

Despite the absence of striker Dudi Ben Dayan, Netanya jumped to an early 1-0 lead. With Netanya pressing in the seventh minute, Haifa’s new defender Anderson West tried to clear the ball, but instead Netanya’s Itay Shechter took control of the ball. He found himself right in front of Haifa goalkeeper Nir Davidovich and managed to elude him with a shot that rolled right under his gloves.

Haifa tried to recover and entrusted the task to its right wing, led by Omri Afek and Ransford Osei. However, not only was the offense unable to deliver, but the defense had another costly lapse in the 23rd minute, leaving Netanya midfielder Alberto Blanco all alone in front of Davidovich. The Panamanian made a slow shot, which Davidovich couldn’t stop.

Haifa coach Elisha Levy left the game with a long face. His recent investment in West did not pay off, and now has two or even three teams in Netanya, Hapoel Tel Aviv and even Beitar Jerusalem breathing down his back.

“Until we prove otherwise, it’s a fact that we have a hard time against the big teams,” he said after the match. “Netanya won and rightfully so. They were more dangerous, and we didn’t create scoring opportunities. We didn’t play well, and I don’t remember us getting to the point of a real attack.”

Commenting on the team’s lead shrinking to three points, he stressed, “I don’t see a team rolling over the entire league. It will be close until the end, and we’ll take care that this loss doesn’t have an adverse affect further down the road.”