It was billed as a straightforward State Cup opener, but Hapoel Nir Ramat Hasharon had to survive extra time and a squad crisis to get past Maccabi Ironi Ashdod, winning 2-1 to reach the competition's fifth round.
Coach Assi Elimelech revealed afterwards that the club had gone into the match with barely half a team available. Only nine players had completed the medical clearance required to play, he said, and two of those were themselves carrying injuries.
With 16 members of the senior squad unable to take part because their medical checks had not been finalised, Elimelech was forced to throw five youth-team players into the lineup to make up the numbers.
"I take the big heart they showed, though there's not much to learn from this match, since the players who should play weren't actually playing," Elimelech said, according to ONE — a wry summary of a night where the result mattered more than the performance.
Despite the makeshift XI, he insisted his side had still controlled the tie and looked the more threatening team, with Ashdod managing few clear chances of their own across the 120 minutes before Nir Ramat Hasharon's extra-time winner settled it.
The win sends the club through to a home fifth-round tie against F.C. Jerusalem, another Liga Alef South outfit, in the next stage of the State Cup.
The result comes in the second season since Nir Ramat Hasharon's relegation from Liga Leumit in the summer of 2025. The club was bought in January 2026 by film producer Yoav Gross and a group of fellow businessmen, who have made a swift return to the national league their stated goal.
For now, though, Elimelech's more immediate problem is straightforward: getting his suspended and unregistered players through the paperwork before medical clearance stops being an excuse.
