Dor Peretz enjoyed better nights as Maccabi’s captain but on a night the side he captained suffered a 3-1 defeat to Hapoel Be’ersheva. The 30-year-old faced the cameras and said after the match: “We are very disappointed, mainly with our performance in the first half. We didn’t show up. It’s disappointing, collectively, individually, everything. That said, we managed to perform much better in the second half, but we still handed them the game. It wasn’t convincing football from either side, but we made mistakes that, at this stage of the season, we simply cannot make.”
Saied Abu Farchi’s second half penalty canceled Be’ersheva’s early lead before a Kings Kangwa brace inflicted Maccabi a 3-1 defeat. “The plan wasn’t to sit so deep, but it didn’t really work out. The easy goal we conceded made us feel uncomfortable” Peretz explained: “It didn’t come off, we move on.”
The defeat leaves Maccabi on 49 points and extended the gap from the leaders to 10 points. Focus will now turn to the Cup as Maccabi travel to Jerusalem and face Maccabi Haifa in the Semi Final. “We’ll talk about Wednesday’s match first. I am always optimistic, but right now Wednesday is our focus, and we’ll deal with the league after that.”
