‘We’ve not secured promotion yet’ – Hapoel Ra'anana’s Olawale not carried away by Maccabi Ahi Nazareth result

Peter Olawale says Hapoel Ra’anana have not booked a place in the Israeli Premier League and has cautioned his team not to get “carried away” with their triumph over Maccabi Ahi Nazareth.

After a run of four games without victory in the Liga Leumit, Eldad Shavit’s men recorded a 1-0 win over the hosts at the Ilut Stadium.

Although Guyana international Emery Welshman decided the game on the hour mark, the Nigeria youth international was named man-of-the-match thanks to his awe-inspiring showing against Avudia Yusuf’s side.

Olawale is not paying much attention to his individual accolade and has urged his side to build upon their recent result as they continue their promotion chase.

“It was a tough game as we anticipated but at the end of 90 minutes, our never say die attitude paid off,” the 18-year-old told Goal.

“We lost our last two games, so picking an away win is a big relief for us and also a pointer that our promotion race is not over yet.

“Not many gave us a chance to pull a shocker away from home and I must give kudos to the rest of my teammates for a job well done.

“On a personal note, I am delighted to be named as man-of-the-match, nonetheless, the most important thing is that we sustain this momentum which is more important.

“We will celebrate this hard-earned result, but we won’t be carried away because we’ve not secured promotion yet.

“We will keep working hard towards actualising our dreams of securing a place in the Premier League at the end of the season.”

Hapoel Ra'anana host eighth-placed Hapoel Ramat Gan in their next outing on February 26 and the Tripple 44 Academy product is upbeat that his team would put up another assuring performance against the Urduns.

“Ramat Gan are no doubt a very strong team with great players.  They are also above us in the table, however, we will not be intimidated facing them,” he continued.

“Training resumes tomorrow and as usual our manager will map out strategies on how we can handle them.

“On a personal note, I will not relent because my contributions would be crucial towards achieving our target.”

After 22 matches played so far in the 2020-21 campaign, Ra'anana occupy the 12th spot in the log after garnering 24 points.