Hapoel on Cloud 8

After a disappointing opening game in the first week of the season, where Hapoel were unlucky to walk away with a 3-2 loss, a strong response was needed on Wednesday against CivSoc- and it was provided.

This was the perfect way to come back from the initial setback, as Hapoel gave a commanding performance against CivSoc with an 8-goal hammering. When I asked Jasper van Veen what he expected from his side in the opening stages of last week’s game, he said that he wanted 2 goals in the first 10 minutes. Hapoel had control of the game right from the start with an effective press and after just 12 minutes, Daniel Bowman opened the scoring following a corner. This was almost immediately followed by a second goal after an incredible counter-attack saw Hapoel's new Colombian signing score his first goal for the club. It may not have been after 10 minutes, but Van Veen’s expectation of controlling the game from the start was easily fulfilled. After 20 minutes, Hapoel successfully won a free kick and the incredible start continued. Although Bowman’s initial attempt was stopped, a poor goalkeeping error left Sam Baker to capitalise and make it 3 for the team. Just 2 minutes later, a direct free kick from star striker Joel Walters made it 4 for Hapoel. It’s quite fitting that after just over 4 goals conceded in 20 minutes, the game against Civil Engineering had very quickly become a demolition job. Hapoel goalkeeper Benjamin Mallandaine didn’t even need to make any saves until the 30-minute mark, helped by some incredible defensive work from club captain Sam Clarfield, and new signing Joel Herman.

After such an incredible first half, a slow start to the second half almost made it look like Hapoel were taking pity on their opponents, and were comfortable with playing a more defensive style for the rest of the game. For a minute, it even looked as if some form of comeback could have been on the horizon, until an incredible second goal by the Jewish James Rodriguez from the edge of the box opened the floodgates again for CivSoc- not a bad way to begin your Hapoel career. With less than 10 minutes left on the clock and clearly noticing that their opponents had nothing left, Hapoel put the final nails in. A goal from the Scottish Hapoel Veteran , followed by Joel Walters scoring his second by rounding the keeper and then manager Noah Meszarich finally finished the job with the 8th goal of the afternoon. Onwards to the next game against MechEng and Forza Hapoel!