Ferencvaros 1-2 Spurs | Ange’s verdict: “The way the players handled themselves was outstanding”

Ange Postecoglou was happy with the way we dealt with all the challenging elements as we came away from Ferencvaros with a 2-1 win on Thursday evening.

Pape Matar Sarr set us on our way with a low finish in the Budapest rain and after putting up a strong resistance to the Hungarian champions, who were roared on by a vocal crowd throughout the game, we bagged a crucial second through Brennan Johnson - his fifth goal in as many games - with 10 minutes left.

Largely in control, we suffered a blow when Barnabas Varga pulled one back for the hosts out of nothing just as we entered five additional minutes, but we stayed composed and confident on the ball to make it back-to-back wins in the new-look league stage of the UEFA Europa League.

We lined up with a young side - Will Lankshear came in for his debut and Mikey Moore for his first start as two of seven changes from the weekend’s win at Manchester United, something that also pleased Ange as he reflected on the way the game panned out.

“I’m really happy - it’s not easy when you play in Europe, you saw the atmosphere tonight, how they get behind their team, the conditions weren’t easy either and I obviously made quite a few changes to the team, so, with all those factors, I think the way the players and the whole group handled themselves was outstanding,” he told SPURSPLAY. “It’s not easy to win away in Europe so to get the three points and a good performance is pleasing.”

On the timing of our goals, Ange continued: “Any time’s a good time to score. I don’t mind if they come in the first or last minute. I thought we were building towards the first goal. They were always going to have a bit of enthusiasm at the start and we had to weather a bit of a storm, but we were building into the game and I felt our running and ability to press would get on top of them. So, a good time to score. I felt we needed a second because, again, the nature of these games, especially away, they are always going to create something, so the guys coming on did a great job in getting that second goal and Brennan scored again, so it was good.

“It was disappointing to concede because we’d had a good run with our defensive work, and our defensive work was outstanding again. We needed Vic (Guglielmo Vicario) a couple of times, but that was a good ball across, we got our bearings wrong in terms of our line but, like I said, when you come away from home, they’re going to create something. We’re disappointing to concede but, more importantly, we’ve got the three points.”