Al Ain Theebs look for final push in three-way race for play-offs

Forward Abdulrahman says they want to keep momentum going after win over Vipers, their rivals in the Garden City.

Ron Murphy, the Dubai Mighty Camels captain, goes on the offensive against Abu Dhabi Storms.

Waheed Abdulrahman, the Al Ain Theebs forward, is confident his team can squeeze into the last four of the Emirates Hockey League (EHL) as the competition moves towards the business end of the season.

Three teams, the Theebs, the Abu Dhabi Scorpions and the Al Ain Vipers have been left to fight for the two remaining places in the play-offs with the Dubai Mighty Camels and the Abu Dhabi Storms having already qualified from the regular season.

"We had a poor start but the team has really regrouped for the final push," Abdulrahman said.

The Theebs' chances of making the play-offs improved considerably with their recent victory over their Al Ain rivals.

"We won against the Vipers the other day to move ahead of them but that won't count if we can keep this momentum going," Abdulrahman said.

The Theebs have four games left, while both the Vipers and Scorpions have to play three in the five-team league.

The Scorpions and Theebs are both on 14 points with the Vipers two behind them at the bottom of the standings.

The Camels have already qualified for the play-off with 32 points, as have the Storms with 24.

"It [qualifying for the play-offs] is between three teams that know each other so well," Abdulrahman said.

"We made a few tactical changes and it worked the other day. But really it is the best team on the day and I would like to think it will be us in the remaining games."

The Vipers scored two early goals in the crucial clash, but Bojan Zidarovic fired in four to put the Theebs on top.

The three European players, Zidarovic, Vitali Sauko and the newcomer Rok Jakopic, ended up scoring all the remaining goals for the Theebs in a 9-6 victory

Kevin Emore, the Vipers' Canadian defender, anticipates the tough task in their three remaining fixtures, with games against the top three in the league, the Mighty Camels, Storms and the Scorpions.

"We need to win at least two of the remaining three games to stand a chance in qualifying for the play-off," he said.

"We are missing a key forward, PJ Slade, and he won't be back until our last game.

"That makes a big difference in our team. We haven't given up hopes though. There will be some very interesting games in the coming two weeks."

Ryan Hornblower, the Scorpions forward, said they have lost four key players who have had to return to Canada because of work commitments but he believes the battle for play-off positions will go down to the wire. "It is going to be an interesting two weeks for us in what looks like a wide open contest to reach the last four stage," he said.

"We lost four players and that had affected our progress, but having said that, we are not going to give up without a fight.

"We meet the Theebs twice and obviously would be looking to win them both."