‘2 ⚽️ 1-0 Fernando Zatz goal, Gaston Fratesi assist
‘15 ⚽️ 2-0 Vlad Kart goal, Evgeny Kart assist
‘22 ⚽️ 2-1 Spartak Ramat Gan goal ‘37 ⚽️ 3-1 Evgeny Kart goal, Ron Sharifi assist
‘49 ⚽️ 3-2 Spartak Ramat Gan goal
‘61 ⚽️ 4-2 Evgeny Kart goal, Roey Sartov assist
Top row (from left to right): Azanao Aristo, Eli Falkon, Sebastian Israel, Renan Prais, Tom Printac, Dandy Okougo, Gabo Terki, Beni Polnauer, Josh Fischbach, Gaston Fratesi, Daniel Herszenhaut and Gianni Conti.
Bottom row (from left to right): Ron Sharifi, Roey Sartov, Fernando Zatz Fekade Golantau, Vlad Kart, Evgeny Kart and Sam Sank.
In the first match of the lower playoff, we faced off against Spartak Ramat Gan at home, a team that we'd beaten twice during the regular season so the expectation was another win.
The game also marked the beginning of Sebastian Israel's tenure as Head Coach, with former assistant Eli Falkon returning to aid Ita on the sidelines as part of the new-look coaching staff.
Ita and Eli urged the team to take the fixture as serious as possible and attack from the off and we were 1-0 up within the opening minutes as stand-in captain Fernando Zatz scored his first goal of the season, heading home Gaston Fratesi's corner.
The second goal came shortly after with Russian twin duo Vlad and Evgeny Kart combining as they have done so much this season, as the former scored his 9th goal of season, remaining the team's leading goalscorer this year.
The two-goal lead was cut down to one after a mix-up at the back between Gianni Conti and Allan Camarov allowed Spartak to score into the open goal but we soon regained the advantage.
A driving run from Ron Sharifi down the left saw him cut inside and pass to Evgeny Kart, who slotted the ball into the bottom corner after brother Vlad had dummied the ball into his path.
In the second half, Spartak again took advantage of some sloppy defending at the back to move to within a goal but another strike from Evgeny, his 7th of the season, made sure we were to begin the lower playoff with a win.
We now top the lower playoff table and face Elitzur Yafo away from home this coming Friday.