Yellow-and-blue top Maccabi Haifa to maintain title hopes

Guy Melamed pulled a marker back to halve the lead, but Ido Shachar scored from the penalty spot after there was a handball in the box to close out the victory. Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Maccabi Haifa 3-1 as the yellow-and-blue dominated the Israeli Classico to take the three points and keep its slim title chances alive, dropping the gap to first-place Hapoel Beersheba to eight points.