Hapoel Petah Tikva Prepares Arguments for Court Hearing

Hapoel Petah Tikva is preparing its defense for an upcoming court hearing regarding an incident during their match against Maccabi Netanya, where the team was accused of having too many players on the field. The club is confident they will not receive a technical loss. The Football Association prosecutor, Gal Bergman, has requested that Hapoel Petah Tikva manager Elioran Bernstein and player Roi Levi be summoned to the hearing.

Levi is expected to testify that the substitution sign was displayed for only a few seconds and that he was attending to an injured teammate, Eyal Billa, thus not seeing the signal. Bernstein plans to argue that he alerted referee Eyal Fried about the number of players before a penalty kick, but Fried allegedly ignored the warning. Fried has not yet been summoned, nor has the main referee of the match, Gal Leibovitz, who is abroad for a tournament.

Hapoel Petah Tikva intends to demand Fried's presence, as the team's defense will focus on the referees' responsibility for the incident. "We will not accept a technical loss, there is no chance," club officials stated.

In other team news, Hapoel Petah Tikva will not stay in a hotel before their upcoming match against Bnei Sakhnin and will travel directly to the stadium. Player Roi David has returned to training after recovering from a stomach ailment. The starting lineup will largely remain the same as the previous game, with Karim Kimwidi returning to the starting eleven. There is a decision to be made between Itai Ehad and Tomer Altman for another position. Hamido Keita has returned to full training and is expected to be included in the squad, with hopes of playing him to regain fitness before the league break next month.

Coach Omer Peretz reflected on the past week, acknowledging the disappointment of conceding a late goal against Netanya. He expressed confidence in the team's defensive solidity but noted that the offense is still developing. "Our attacking play is not yet flowing as we want. On the other hand, our defense as a team is very good. Teams find it difficult to create real chances against us. Offense is always harder to teach. We are progressing, we are not where we want to be, but there are many bright spots in the team. I hope we will show that in Douma," Peretz said.