Israel: Rishon LeZion still yellow

 

The Israeli Handball League came back after the Cup final with the most glorious Handball match: The Rishon LeZion Grand Derby.

 

Hapoel started the match very well with a good performance by Pedja Dejanovic who led the reds to 6:3 in the 10th minute. In the next minute, Hapoel’s defensive player, Ido Lavie, got a direct red card but the momentum continued to 7:3. Dejanovic continued with his great match and in the attacking side, the nationals, Yuval Gerera and Oz Hamami, led Hapoel to 14:10 in the half time.

 

Dan Tepper came from the cup holders bench and helped Maccabi comeback to 16:14 in the 38th minute. Ivan Karacic took control on both sides and made 17:16 in the 40th minute. Maccabi’s first lead 17:18 came from Vladi Kofman in the 45th minute. Yirmi Sidi made it 17:19 and Hapoel without high quality foreign attacking player looked ineffective. Maccabi continued with the great second half performance and won 23:29.

 

In other matches: After their loss in the cup final, H.C Holon came to the league with great performance. They host Hapoel Ashdod from the 2nd place and beat them 37:31. Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin got another important win, 34:29 on Bnei Herzliya and SGS Ramat Hasharon beat Ironi Rehovot 37:30.

 

The 19th matchday started with the match between the Hapoel Ramat Gan from the last place and the surprising promoters H.C Beer Sheba. 10 goals by Steffan Ciric and another 9 from Milos Bujisic helped Beer Sheba to win 31:25. Hapoel Kiryat Ono got a 3 points advantage on Ramat Gan with 26:22 on H.C Ness Ziona.

 

In the next matchday: Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin – H.C Ness Ziona, Hapoel Ashdod – SGS Ramat Hasharon, Ironi Rehovot – Hapoel Ramat Gan, H.C Beer Sheba – Hapoel Rishon LeZion, H.C Ness Ziona – Bnei Herzliya. Maccabi Rishon LeZion beat Hapoel Kiryat Ono 26:38 already on February 18th.

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