Craig Harrison: TNS players deserve credit for digging deep in Sweden
Craig Harrison saluted his TNS troops for digging deep against BK Hacken to ensure their Champions League hopes remain alive and kicking.
The New Saints put in an creditable display in Gothenburg, Sweden, to come away with a 3-1 defeat in their Champions League first round qualifier first leg.
Saints boss Harrison insists his troops are still in the tie against the reigning Swedish champions ahead of next Tuesday’s Park Hall second leg.
Harrison believes work this summer to improve his squad’s robustness helped on the continent after Hacken raced into 2-0 and 3-1 leads by half-time.
“The second half was a great performance, we went 2-0 behind early on and we could’ve crumbled and gone under,” Harrison said.
“We replied by scoring a fantastic goal, we had one or two half-opportunities but then they score within minutes of us – maybe if we could’ve got to the interval at 2-1 and put that second half performance in then 2-1 would’ve been an unbelievable result for us.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, they are very, very good players, full internationals and top players, their lads in midfield are very good.
“Our lads deserve all the credit in the world, we talked about it a lot in pre-season, trying to build a bit of robustness, digging deep. I think that came to fruition in the last 10 or 15 minutes, we had blocks and bodies on the line. I can’t praise the lads enough, the 11, the subs, those who didn’t come on, as crazy as it sounds – we’re still in the game.”
Declan McManus, TNS’ top scorer last term, halved the deficit in the first half with a fine header. Either TNS or Hacken will face the winners of Ferencvaros, of Hungary, or Fareose champions KI.
