Away Days, trip 2: Hapoel Haifa v Hapoel Be'er-Sheva at Haifa International Stadium, Israel

What does it take to reach a game in Haifa from the Gulf? A 1,800 km flight to Ben Gurion, then a train north along the coast. I land late on Monday, and by Tuesday morning I am on the 08:44 from Tel Aviv Savidor, the Mediterranean on my right as we pass Netanya and Hadera. The journey costs 27 shekels, and takes just over an hour. At Haifa Hof HaCarmel I change to the Carmelit, the city's underground funicular, which climbs the slope of Mount Carmel in six minutes for six shekels. I emerge near the top of the hill, and walk ten minutes to the ground.

Haifa International Stadium is a small, neat bowl set among apartment blocks, with the sea visible to the west. I pay 60 shekels for a seat in the east stand, behind the home bench. The pitch is artificial, ringed by a running track, and the floodlights are already on against the December gloom. The crowd is sparse – 3,637 announced, but it feels fewer – and most are in the covered north stand, where the Hapoel Haifa ultras gather. Opposite, a thin line of Be'er-Sheva fans in red have made the 180 km trip north.

Before kick-off I eat a falafel pita from a stall outside the ground, the balls crisp and the salad sharp, for 18 shekels. The man serving me, a Haifa fan called Yossi, shrugs when I ask about the season. 'We are mid-table, nothing to play for. But Be'er-Sheva are champions, so maybe we see some goals.' He laughs, not happily.

He is right about the goals. Be'er-Sheva score four in the first 35 minutes, each one met with a groan from the home support. Eli Galili, playing at right-back, gets two, the first after 13 minutes when he arrives at the far post, the second a low drive from the edge of the box. Nadav Navon adds a third, and Omri Zaguri a fourth, and by half-time the game is over. The home side manage one shot on target all match, a consolation from Roy Buzaglo after 74 minutes, but by then Be'er-Sheva have added a fifth through substitute Yizhar Elkaslasy. The final score is 1-5, and the home fans drift away long before the end.

The result is no surprise. Hapoel Be'er-Sheva have won the Israeli Premier League for 13 seasons in a row, and they play with the ease of a side used to winning. Their passing is crisp, their movement constant, and Navon, who finishes with a goal and two assists, is the best player on the pitch by some distance. For Hapoel Haifa, it is a long evening, and the empty stands tell their own story.

After the match I walk back down the hill to the Carmelit, and take the train south again. The journey back to Tel Aviv is quiet, the carriage half-empty, the sea dark beyond the windows. It has been a long way to come for a one-sided game, but the trip itself – the climb up Mount Carmel, the falafel, the view of the water – has been worth it. Away days are not always about the football.