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Face-saving win for Haifa

Maccabi Haifa salvaged a small amount of pride from their unsuccessful Europa League Group L campaign as they claimed their first win in the dead-rubber match against Shakhter Karagandy.Shoval Gozlan's second-half header and Shimon Abuhatzira's strike denied Shakhter their first Europa League away win while claiming their only success of the group stages, which saw AZ Alkmaar and PAOK Salonika progress to the round of 32.Roger Canas opened the scoring from the penalty spot for Shakhter in the 43rd minute after Ran Abukarat fouled Gevorg Ghazaryan but it was not enough as Haifa came through to win 2-1.However, goals from Gozlan and Abuhatzira in the 73rd and 81st minutes left the Kazakhstan Premier League side winless in the competition.Haifa went close before Canas's goal when Gozlan forced Stas Pokatilov to tip the ball over the bar with a testing header from the middle of the area before the goalkeeper was on form to deny Idan Vered's strike from outside the 18-yard box.Shakhter also had a chance go begging before the half hour mark when Aldin Dzidic forced a brilliant save from Edri, however the visitors finished the first half on a high thanks to Canas's accuracy from the spot.Maksat Baizhanov's 20-yard curling effort was comfortably saved by Edri after the break before the Haifa keeper denied Ghazaryan from a similar distance.The game was temporarily suspended in the second half due to a floodlight failure before getting back under way, and Shakhter were made to suffer.Gozlan netted a 76th-minute header to cancel out Canas's strike before Abuhatzira scored the winner five minutes later.

PA Sport

AZ ease to victory

AZ Alkmaar continued to trade blows with PAOK Salonika in their Europa League Group L battle for top spot as the ran out comfortable 2-0 winners over Maccabi Haifa at the AFAS Stadion.PAOK had moved on to 11 points after winning away at Shakhter Karagandy earlier on Thursday evening but Gertjan Verbeek's side moved level with the Greek side as they won courtesy of a first-half Nemanja Gudelj strike and a late second from Johann Berg Gudmundsson.Both AZ and PAOK have now qualified for the knockout phases with their meeting in Greece next month essentially a play-off to find the winners of the group.The game started slowly with both sides guilty of giving away a plethora of fouls in the early stages, with AZ's Maarten Martens the first player to really test either goalkeeper mid-way through the first half.Gudelj then forced another save out of Maccabi's Bojan Saranov with a free-kick on the half-hour mark, with the Serbia Under-21 international going one better seven minutes later.Martens crossed from the right and Gudelj flashed a left-footed effort high in to Saranov's net to put the hosts ahead.Gudelj came close to doubling AZ's lead before the interval but fired an effort wide of the target.The visitors started the second half brightly and, after a string of early corners, Ruben Rayo and Shimon Abuhatzira saw shots land wide of Esteban Alvarado's goal.Shlomi Azulay was the next to come close to a leveller with just over an hour on the clock but he could not test Alvarado when picked out in the box.That proved to be Maccabi's last chance of note as AZ came back into the game and looked to add to Gudelj's strike.Nick Viergever and Gudmundsson both came close to making certain of the three points before the latter struck deep in to injury time to give the hosts a well-deserved win.

All square in ill-tempered match

Hen Ezra came the closest to breaking the deadlock in a bad-tempered Europa League Group L match in Israel which saw six players booked.German referee Felix Zwayer tried to let a game littered with fouls flow but eventually lost his patience in a 0-0 draw between Maccabi Haifa and PAOK.Ezra had the best effort but his shot from distance hit the post halfway through the second half.Maccabi's Dino Ndlovu had the first chance but shot wide of goal after two minutes.A succession of free-kicks followed as both sides tried to control what was turning out to be a committed game.But in a first half where opportunities were at a premium, the first real action came in the 25th minute when a succession of fouls finally led to Maccabi's Ezra being booked by Zwayer.Five minutes later his Maccabi team-mate Ran Abukarat was also booked after his foul on PAOK's Sotiris Ninis.Two minutes later Shoval Gozlan became the third player to be booked for the Israeli team when he was cautioned for a foul on Giorgos Katsikas.But Katsikas was also booked only a minute later when he fouled Ndlovu.In first half stoppage time PAOK finally had an effort on target but a shot from Miroslav Stoch was saved by Bojan Saranov in the home side's goal.Saranov was called into action eight minutes into the second half when he saved a shot from Costin Lazar.Eyal Meshumar had a shot blocked as Maccabi also failed to break the deadlock.Maccabi substitute Shimon Abuhazira had a shot but his effort could not beat PAOK keeper Sanz Jacobo who made a save.The home side's Ezra went closest to opening the scoring when his shot from 25 yards hit the post after 67 minutes.PAOK became frustrated in the closing minutes as both Dorvalino Lino and Giannis Skondras were cautioned.

Maccabi Haifa

SOCCER

PAOK fight back for victory

PAOK Salonika came from two goals down to claim a 3-2 win over Maccabi Haifa to move clear at the top of Europa League Group L.Goals from Dino Ndlovu and Eyal Golasa put Haifa in the driving seat but a frenetic period at the end of the first half saw the home side level through Miguel Vitor and Sotiris Ninis, while Miroslav Stoch also had two penalties saved by visiting goalkeeper Bojan Saranov.Dimitris Salpingidis then completed the turnaround as PAOK maintained their unbeaten record and left Haifa still searching for a first win.PAOK showed a great deal of promise in the early stages and should have gone in front after 11 minutes but for a brilliant stop from Saranov to keep out Stoch's powerful left-footed drive.Haifa took full advantage three minutes later with Ndlovu grabbing the opening goal, firing low into the bottom right corner.And they were even further in front in the 23rd minute as Ruben Rayo pumped in a cross which was stabbed home by Golasa.However, PAOK got themselves back into the match in a bewildering 10-minute spell before half-time.Miguel Vitor reduced the deficit with a header from Lino's free-kick and minutes later PAOK were awarded a penalty for Edin Cocalic's trip on Stoch.The Slovakian saw his spot-kick kept out by another incredible save from Saranov, who then further showcased his talent to deny the follow-up from Ninis.However, Ninis got his revenge from the subsequent corner, heading in the assist from Stefanos Athanasiadis to bring PAOK level.The hosts were then awarded their second penalty a minute before the interval, Cocalic again the offender this time with a handball. Stoch once more stepped up to take responsibility but his way was blocked by Saranov as the striker continued to come up short against his nemesis.But the visiting defence was breached for a third time after 66 minutes, Lino again providing the ball into the area where Salpingidis was waiting to poke in from close range.This time, Haifa struggled to recover from the blow and they closest they came to equalising was a header from Shlomi Azulay which was punched away by PAOK goalkeeper Jacobo three minutes from time.

Team	GP	W	D	L	GD	P
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona	33	14	8	11	+9	50
Hapoel Hadera	33	11	9	13	-9	42
Moadon Sport Ashdod	33	12	3	18	-15	39
Beitar Jerusalem	33	9	10	14	-8	37
Hapoel Haifa	33	9	8	16	-11	35
Hapoel Jerusalem	33	8	9	16	-16	33
Maccabi Petah-Tikva	33	6	9	18	-15	27
Hapoel Nof HaGalil	33	6	9	18	-28	27

Team

-9

-15

-8

-11

-16