Source: Team_Talk
Dawson rues early Spurs errors
Michael Dawson admitted Tottenham's display in the first half of their Champions League qualifier against Young Boys "wasn't good enough".[LNB] Spurs conceded three early goals before reducing the deficit to 3-2 ahead of next Wednesday's second leg.[LNB]Spurs suffered a nightmare start to their first tie at this level for almost half a century, their unfancied Swiss hosts tearing their hapless defence to shreds in the opening 28 minutes at the Stade de Suisse.[LNB]But with their hopes of reaching the lucrative group stage hanging by a thread, Sebastien Bassong and Roman Pavyluchenko scored two priceless away goals ahead of next Wednesday's second leg at White Hart Lane.[LNB]England defender Dawson told Sky Sports 2: "The first half hour wasn't good enough, simple as that.[LNB]"But we got in at half-time, sorted things out and stuck together.[LNB]"We've got to be happy with that after the first-half performance.[LNB]"We were slow out of the blocks and it was disappointing."[LNB]Dawson admitted boss Harry Redknapp was unhappy at the break, and the England defender also refused to blame the artificial surface.[LNB]"We trained on it last night, the pitch wasn't the problem," Dawson said.[LNB]"It's hard when you go a goal down early on and it took us longer than we liked to react.[LNB]"But 3-2, back to White Hart Lane, we're still in the competition, we're in with a good chance.[LNB]"We're still full of confidence we can make the group stages."[LNB]Tottenham manager Redknapp was relieved to come away with 3-2 after the dreadful first half-hour.[LNB]He said: "That was a great defeat in the end, if there is such a thing as a great defeat.[LNB]"At 3-0 we were out of it. We were in desperate trouble, so full credit to the lads, we've come back.[LNB]"Now we need to win at home and it gives us a great chance."[LNB]The former West Ham and Portsmouth boss felt some of his players were uneasy about the pitch.[LNB]He said: "I don't want to make excuses. but I had a nasty feeling there was something in the back of the minds about the pitch and they went out and played like that."[LNB]Redknapp, who revealed both Jermain Defoe and Luka Modric had picked up injuries, was looking forward to next week's second leg in north London.[LNB]"It will be a great night, the atmosphere will be amazing," he said on Sky Sports 2.[LNB]"But it will be tough."[LNB]Young Boys defender Scott Sutter is a Tottenham supporter and he admitted tonight had been a dream come true.[LNB]He said: "It was a dream for me personally to play against Tottenham and as a player it doesn't get better than this, walking out in front of a full house to play Tottenham.[LNB]"I could never have imagined it like it was."[LNB]Of his team's efforts and chances for next week, the right-back added: "We tried to look for the fourth goal. We had a couple of very good chances to extend our lead.[LNB]"It was important that we left the tie open for the last game, we did fantastically well today.[LNB]"I just hope we can play as concentrated."
