Hapoel Petah Tikva Prepares Arguments for Court Hearing

Hapoel Petah Tikva is preparing its defense for an upcoming disciplinary hearing, with club officials expressing confidence they will avoid a technical loss. The team's manager, Eliyahu Bernstein, and player Roy Levi are summoned to appear before the football association's court on Wednesday. The case stems from an incident during a match against Maccabi Netanya where the team allegedly had too many players on the field after Levi was involved in a substitution mix-up. Levi is expected to testify that he was unaware of the substitution signal as he was attending to an injured teammate, Erick Billa. Bernstein plans to argue that he alerted referee Yigal Fried to the player count issue before a penalty kick, but Fried allegedly ignored the warning. Referee Fried and the main referee, Gal Leibovitz, have not been summoned yet, though Leibovitz cannot attend due to a prior commitment abroad. Petah Tikva intends to push for Fried's presence, as the team's defense will focus on the referees' responsibility for the situation. "We will not accept a technical loss, there is no chance," stated club officials. On the professional front, Hapoel Petah Tikva will not stay overnight before their away game against Bnei Sakhnin on Thursday, arriving directly at the stadium. Player Roy David has returned to training after recovering from a stomach ailment. The lineup will largely remain the same as the previous match, with Karim Kimwidi returning to the starting eleven. There is a decision to be made between Itai Ehud and Tomer Altman for another position. Hamido Keita has resumed full training and is expected to be included in the squad, with hopes of playing him to regain fitness before the league's break next month. A projected lineup includes Omer Katz, Stav Israeli, Or Israelov, Alex Musonda, Yazan Nasser, Itai Ehud (or Tomer Altman), Boni Amin, Karim Kimwidi, Roy Levi, Roy David, and Erick Billa.