Bonamigo refuses to throw in towel in title chase

Al Shabab coach Paulo Bonamigo has refused to give up his team's chase for the Etisalat Pro League title despite lagging behind current leaders Al Ain by six points. The Dubai-based club, who are currently in fourth place, beat arch-rivals Al Ahli 3-2 in a hard-fought Deira derby on Monday night. "This is a huge win for us as it will give our players the confidence they need to go into the last phase of the league and fight for the title," Bonamigo told media at the post-match conference. With honours even at 2-2 at half-time, it was January signing Welker Almeida's [Kieza] goal that sealed maximum points for Al Shabab as they kept up with their chase of the top three teams - Al Ain, Al Nasr and Al Jazira. The result was even more important for Bonamigo as Al Shabab had gone without a positive result for their past four matches. "This win will give us a huge motivation and we can pull our morale up for the rest of the season," the Brazilian said. The coach shrugged off speculation that Al Ain are too well-knit to allow their early advantage to slip. "We will keep trying our best and I still believe that the competition this season is not going to be like last season. Of course Al Ain is performing very well, but these three points brings back the motivation for the team to go for wins." Al Ahli coach Quique Sanchez Flores was left wondering what he has to do to put his team's campaign back on track. "We have hardly shown any dynamics during our past few matches. And though we have not changed much, the results have gone against us. We have a competitive team and normally it is left up to us whether we want to win, draw or lose a match," the Spaniard said. Sanchez insisted that his task is far from finished with the Red Devils after the ex-Atletico Madrid coach was brought in at the end of last year to get the Al Ahli campaign back on track. And until the middle of next month he will have some time to rebuild his side before the league enters the final phase. "I think we have to put the past behind us. It is important to learn our lessons from the past and improve," he said.                                                From gulfnews