Dawson staying positive despite draw
Thursday, October 4, 2012
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Despite the disappointment of a second UEFA Europa League Group J draw in as many matches, Tottenham Hotspur FC centre-back Michael Dawson is looking on the bright side.
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Tottenham Hotspur FC goalscorer Michael Dawson lamented letting a 1-0 lead slip against Panathinaikos FC, but insisted that his team-mates remain upbeat about their UEFA Europa League prospects despite a return of just two points from their opening two Group J matches. Greens forward Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, meanwhile, reflected on a point that he thinks could kick-start the Greek side's campaign.
Michael Dawson, Tottenham defender
We are definitely disappointed at ending up with a point. In the first half we played really well, passed the ball nicely and got the goal. But to be fair to them, they came out in the second half determined and were the better team. We are just disappointed that we didn't keep our momentum going and gave the ball away too much. We are staying positive, though. We have some big games coming up and hopefully we can get back to winning ways.
Clint Dempsey, Tottenham forward
It was disappointing just to get the one point; we would have liked to have come away with all three. We have our work cut out a bit now with just the two points from two games, but there is still time left and we are looking forward to the next games. We'll keep working hard and try to get positive results but we definitely need to get some wins sooner or later. It's frustrating to concede so late in the game but we will look forward.
Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Panathinaikos forward
We'll take it as one point gained I think. We expected it to be a difficult game and we knew we would have to work hard as a team against Tottenham, as they are a great side. They have a team full of pace so it is difficult to explain why the tempo was slow today. Perhaps they wanted to play a slower-paced game and this worked to our advantage in the second half. We are happy with the point ... it's a relief to get off the mark.
Kostas Triantafyllopoulos, Panathinaikos defender
We played well and managed to get the point I think that we deserved. It's not just the result but the way we battled and passed the ball in the second half. This is the start; we will try to reproduce the same spirit and performance in the coming weeks and months.
