Caltex Socceroos defender Trent Sainsbury made his Israeli Premier League debut as Maccabi and Hapoel shared the points in the Haifa derby.
Sainsbury signed for Maccabi Haifa from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven on Friday and was thrust into the action against city rivals Hapoel in the shared Sammy Ofer Stadium a little more than 24 hours later.
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The scores remained locked at 0-0 despite the Greens’ efforts to force a breakthrough, with Maccabi recording five shots on target to Hapoel’s two and leading the corner count by eight to three.
Marco Balbul’s side opened the season with a 4-3 victory against Hapoel Ra’anana, with Sainsbury’s fellow Aussie Nikita Rukavytsya netting twice in the last six minutes to complete a comeback win.
Maccabi sit second in the Israeli Premier League table on four points from two games, behind Maccabi Netanya on goal difference, and Sainsbury was delighted to turn out for his new team.
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Ryan cannot stop Manchester City juggernaut rolling on
Mat Ryan faced a Manchester City onslaught as Brighton & Hove Albion were beaten 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola’s team have netted 14 times in the first 4 games of the Premier League season and they got the ball rolling as early as the second minute when David Silva set up Kevin de Bruyne.
Ryan made a solid save from Riyad Mahrez’s stinging effort but a pair of goals from Sergio Agüero either side of half-time put the game out of sight for the Seagulls.
Portuguese star Bernardo Silva added a fourth moments after coming on to complete the rout as Aaron Mooy watched on from the Brighton substitutes bench.
Jackson Irvine and Hull City settled for a share of the points on the road against south London club Millwall in the Championship.
Kamil Grosicki netted a sensational 40-yard free-kick to level the scores at 1-1 only eight minutes after the Lions had gone ahead through Jed Wallace’s 10th-minute penalty at the Den.
The Tigers finished the game with nine men after Jon Total was forced off injured after Hull coach Grant McCann had used all three substitutes and Josh Magennis was shown a stoppage time red card.
Massimo Luongo was unable to derail his former club as Queen’s Park Rangers took a 2-1 win from Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.
The Owls had gone up when Steven Fletcher converted from the penalty spot on 23 minutes but a quick-fire double in the space of four minutes by Jordan Hugill flipped the game on 64 minutes.
Luongo was introduced for Morgan Fox three minutes later as Wednesday caretaker boss Lee Bullen attempted to claw back the game, but Rangers hung on to overtake the Owls in the table.
In League One, Harry Souttar’s Fleetwood Town fell to a 2-0 defeat at high-flying Lincoln City while Mark Milligan’s Southend United lost their sixth straight game, 3-0 at home against Rochdale.
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No joy for Caltex Socceroos in Germany
Brandon Borrello and Freiburg SC’s red-hot start to the German Bundesliga season was brought to a halt by newly-promoted Cologne in a 2-1 defeat.
The outlook appeared bright at Dreisamstadion at half-time, with the home side leading through a Rafael Czichos own goal on 40 minutes.
Anthony Modeste fired the visitors level on 52 minutes as Borrello was replaced on the hour by Lucas Höler.
Tunisian midfielder Ellyes Skhiri’s stoppage-time effort snatched all three points for the Billy Goats at the death, inflicting Freiburg’s first defeat of the 2019/20 campaign.
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There was little to cheer about for Hertha Berlin, as Matthew Leckie’s side went down 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen against Schalke 04.
A pair of own goals made life difficult for the Old Lady as Niklas Stark put into his own net seven minutes before half-time and centre-back partner Karim Rekik did the same three minutes after.
Leckie was introduced from the bench by new Hertha coach Ante Covic on 76 minutes but Jonjoe Kenny’s late strike ensured the points went to the Miners.
Over in the Netherlands, Ajdin Hrustic’s Groningen FC slipped to a 2-1 loss against Heracles.
Django Warmerdam’s goal for the Green-White Army had cancelled out Silvester van der Water’s opener, but it was the visitors who claimed the win when Lennart Czyborra grabbed the decider.
