Dubai: Al Wasl are certainly not in any mood of giving up on their early sojourn in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) despite dropping valuable points against cross-city rivals Al Shabab on Friday, the club’s manager insists.

The lone point following Friday’s goalless draw sees the Al Zabeel outfit second behind Al Jazira in the table.

After playing out a rather an insipid first half, Al Wasl had the best chance of the match when they were awarded a penalty following a hand ball by defender Fahad Khalifa in 76th minute. But the normally ever-reliable Fabio De Lima — later booed off by his own supporters — sent the kick straight into the path of a diving Salem Abdullah.

Preferring to defend from deep within their own half, Al Shabab nearly got a match-winner in the 81st minute when a snap attack from Henrique Luvannor from the left saw Mohammad Juma unmarked in front of goal, but the youngster shot over.

Al Wasl came close a second time in the 83rd minute when a Humaid Abdullah Abbas header off a Helder Barbosa cross hit the upright and was cleared to safety leaving coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena frustrated at having dropped a vital two points.

“It was a match that we wanted to score and win. But Al Shabab had ten players behind the ball at all times defending and denying us. In the second half we had our chance to get the three points with the penalty, but Fabio missed. This is football,” the Argentine rued.

“We had some missed opportunities that cost us the two points, but I am very happy with my team. Now we will work thinking about how to take on Hatta in our next game,” he added.

Arruabarrena refused to agree that Al Wasl’s title chances were severely dented with such a result. “There are 14 matches still to go, and it is not that we are without points. The main thing for us is that we will work to be at the top of the league, and whether we are playing against bigger teams or smaller teams, it really doesn’t matter,” he observed.

Al Shabab’s Dutch coach Fred Rutten was relieved at fighting for a point against one of the top teams this season. Having conceded ten goals in the last two matches — a 7-3 mauling at home from Al Jazira followed by an away 0-3 loss to Al Dhafra — Rutten was relieved with a point against Al Wasl.

“This point is a good platform to build on. We needed this confidence and belief for the future. Today we had to rely on some very young players and I am glad that they followed my instructions to perfection,” Rutten said.

“I am happy with the result. Perhaps we were lucky as Lima missed a penalty. But they too were lucky as we had a couple of chances towards the end that could have given us three points. I don’t have to give the players any confidence talk before the next game,” he added.