Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Petah-Tikva met in the Ligat Ha'Al regular season on Tuesday evening, with the hosts running out 3-1 winners. Both sides came into the fixture level on points, each sitting on six after four matches, so this was a clash that would shift the balance somewhere.
Shon Weissman gave Beitar the lead in the nineteenth minute, and Omer Atzili doubled it just before the half-hour mark. To be fair, Maccabi had chances to respond but could not find the net. Boris Enow Takang picked up a yellow card on the stroke of half-time, and the visitors struggled to settle after the break.
Coaching changes began in the sixtieth minute when Eugene Ansah came on for Beitar, followed by Marko Rakonjac for the visitors. By the sixty-eighth minute, Shon Weissman himself was replaced by Tomer Yosefi, and Samuel Owusu joined the fray for Maccabi shortly after. The game opened up again in the eighty-seventh minute when Johnbosco Samuel Kalu pulled one back, and Yoav Koren added a fourth for the hosts two minutes later.
Beitar dominated possession at 67 per cent and created more with their chances, registering 3.13 expected goals compared to Maccabi's 1.05. The hosts took 17 shots inside the penalty area and crossed the ball 24 times, while the visitors managed just eight crosses and five shots on target. And here's the thing — Maccabi's shots were more accurate at 45 per cent, but accuracy means little when you do not create enough opportunities.
The result leaves Beitar and Maccabi still level on six points, though the hosts now sit seventh while Maccabi remain sixth. Both sides have one more match to play in the opening round, and this outcome will not settle anything for either club.