Harry Kewell was pleased with the Bees reaction to falling behind as an impressive second half performance saw his side draw 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur U23s.

Here’s what the boss had to say about yesterday’s performance:

On the match:

“It was another tough test on a different scale, Tottenham are a fantastic passing side you could see their creativity and movement. They had a lot of confident young men, who wanted to play the right way, so it was a good test for us and it was completely different from what we’ve been used to, which is why we wanted to play a game like this. 

“I felt we were quite sloppy in the first half, we weren’t tracking runners and we were letting huge gaps appear in the midfield. But in the second half, we closed those gaps, got on the front foot, and got our goal early which was fantastic. It’s a shame really that we couldn’t finish the job, but overall we’re happy with the result, we’ve got another two weeks of pre-season to top the players up and when we do that, we should be ready.”

On our fitness and a strong finish to matches:

“We’ve worked really hard, GA (Gary Anderson, Head of Performance) has done a fantastic job and the players have been fantastic too because they can only work as hard as they can, it’s been a great group effort. The main thing about pre-season is that on the first day of the season, you have a full selection of players to choose from.”

On Harry Taylor returning and more players completing 90 minutes:

“It’s very important to get those minutes in the legs and 90 minutes if possible, we had to do a few different things. It was fantastic to see Harry Taylor back, he’s gone through a bit of a rough patch but he’s back and he is willing to fight which is very important. No one is guaranteed a place in my team, you have to work hard for it and when you get it you have to make sure you don’t lose that jersey.”

On possible selection headaches:

“I want to be sitting in there going ‘he’s been excellent for the last two weeks but he’s been fantastic for two weeks, which one should I go for?’ You need competition, I think some of the players might have been in teams where it has kind of been handed to them, but that won’t happen here, nobody’s spot is safe.”

On Harrow Borough this coming Tuesday:

“It’s another different test and another different challenge, it’s about how we can back it up. We’ll be looking at our fitness levels, we’re looking at what we can achieve and it is another game that we want to stamp our authority on.”

On the fans:

“I am sure the horrible weather we had this morning might have put some off! But it was great to see the fans! It was fantastic to see the fans, it’s great to be in a stadium with them because they are a massive part of the game!”