Quote Sheet: MB 2-2 TBR
Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California
Saturday, August 3, 2024
Interim Head Coach Simon Dawkins
On the match:
“Overall, really good. I thought the first half was fantastic. The boys worked really, really hard and listened to everything we said during the week. We followed the game plan, and I thought it went really well. Obviously in the second half we burnt out a little. I think because we were working so hard in the first half. When you play against a good team like Tampa, there’s going to be moments where they’re on top of you. We’ve done well to ride the pressure and end up with a draw. We’re happy with that in the end.”
On the late equalizer:
“I think we can compete with anybody, I think we have some great players here. The fight and the effort that the boys put in, I thought we really deserved it. They had their chances as well, but so did we, so we’re gonna get back to the drawing board on Monday and see where we can improve and get better.”
On Trager’s performance:
“When you play with one up top, it’s sometimes difficult because he can be isolated at times. But I thought his energy and his effort were good, and he’s always a goal threat this season. It’s just about finding him the opportunities where he can be prolific and today he came up again in a massive way, so I’m really happy with his performance.”
Forward Alex Dixon
On scoring the opening goal:
“It felt good. It’s always good to score obviously, but getting the first one was nice to get us a little bit of momentum going and set us on the right path to fight for the rest of the game.”
On the late comeback:
“It definitely gives us a boost going into next week to show that we didn’t give up after going up 1-0 and then finding ourselves down 2-1. We’re gonna fight to the end, so it’s good to get that goal to give us a little bit of a boost going into next week. We build on Monday, play Birmingham next week, and try to get three points.”
On the coaching transition:
“It’s been a difficult week, it always is with a coaching change. The boys bounced back and put in a good week of training, so to come out here and get a good result was important. Right now the morale is high in the locker room and that gives us a platform to build on. We have to put in the work this week to make sure we get a good result against Birmingham. We have to put our heads down, keep working, and get after it.”
