In front of an empty Bloomfield Stadium, a reminder of the punishment the Reds received from the derby events, Hapoel Tel Aviv recorded a turnaround this evening (Sunday) with a numerical advantage over Kiryat Shmona and Menachem Koretsky. The Reds beat the Northerners 1:2, after Alan Ozbolt (penalty) and Dan Einbinder converted An early advantage goal by Itamar Shabiru Yoav Hoffmeister was sent off for a second yellow ten minutes and left Koretsky’s team at a numerical disadvantage for about an hour of football.
The Reds did not play particularly great football tonight. In the first half, Hapoel did not register a single shot on goal for more than half an hour, when Shabiro’s advantage gave KS hope of stopping the streak of games without a win. Despite the goal they got and despite the advantage in the result, Hofmeister’s dismissal was the turning point in Bloomfield tonight.
Starting with the sending off, KS started to disappear from the game, while the Reds started to register first chances, possessed the ball and controlled the pace of the game. Slovodan Drapić’s team concentrated on attacking from their wings, which is where the two goals came from, after Gottlieb received a ball from the left wing and was fouled in the area on the way to the penalty and the goal of Einbinder, who also entered from the same wing.
Even before the advantage, Hapoel had difficulty getting close to Bartkos’ goal. The KS defense stood firm and did not allow elevations and wide passes to enter the area for a red (or pink, in today’s case) player. In addition, the northerners received a golden opportunity about a minute before the end of the game, when Shabiru was left alone once more against Stefan Marinovich, but the latter, who recorded Pretty good game for him, cleared the ball as well as the rebound.
Several moments of controversy took place this evening around the decisions of the referee of the match, Ohad Assulin. Some argue that the second yellow card that Hofmeister received (and actually changed the game) was not deserved and that he is missing out on the issue. In addition, several smaller decisions received criticism on the pitch, most notably Koratsky, who received a yellow for arguing after Hofmeister’s red card.
So the Reds didn’t impress tonight, but got the job done in a game that on any other day could have ended in a draw. Drapich will take his three points, his second victory in Hapoel Tel Aviv, on the way to 9th place in the table, three points away from the top playoff picture. On the other hand, KSH with 9 games in a row without a win, dropped to 13th place in the table, the same amount Points like the newcomer, Ness Ziona section.