Dor Peretz who scored Maccabi’s equalizer on the way to a dramatic late 3-2 victory over Hapoel Hadera at Netanya last Saturday. Five days later and ahead of the match against Hapoel Haifa at Bloomfield which will conclude the regular league season, Peretz reflected on the previous match. “Personally, after watching and analyzing the game, I think the energy at the start of the game was excellent” Peretz said on the match that began on a bright note before the match took a different course. “We then conceded from a set piece and shortly after the second goal. For a big team to concede two goals causes a shock, but I am delighted we showed that there is character here of a team and players who know how to bounce back and grow from this.”
The 29-year-old whose goal against Hadera was his 6th in the league and 13th in all competitions this season, said of his personal form: “I am regrettably not aware of criticism directed at me. When the team is winning I am feeling great and when the team is losing then I have responsibility as overall I have a lot of responsibility on my shoulders to lead the team to where we would like to be, just like other players. This is a collective team effort and I am happy when we succeed as a team.”
On the title race and the head-to-head battle with Hapoel Be’ersheva, Peretz added: “I am focused on my team and what we can do, as long as we do it – which is our duty. I can respond to a narrative that other people determine.”
On the feeling at the end of the game against Hadera, Peretz said: “The (two-goal) deficit was turned into a victory so I don’t know what negative feeling we are talking about. We have things to learn from but we did manage to win. We are our biggest enemy, because when we lose point it is us, Be’ersheva does their share, and every team has its own journey.”
Hapoel Haifa secured a 5th spot at the end of the regular season to book a place in the Play Offs. When both teams met earlier this season Maccabi were held to a 1-1 draw by Hapoel Haifa at Sammy Ofer, as Peretz reflected: “An opponent of the highest level, as our match at Sammy Ofer against them was one of the toughest we had all season. They are good at counter attacks and have players of the highest quality so we will have to adapt ourselves in order to display the football we would like to show.”
