Dawson still upbeat despite defeat

Tottenham defender Michael Dawson is refusing to give up on the club's UEFA Cup hopes despite Thursday night's 2-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Spurs have to turn around the deficit next Thursday, three days before the Carling Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley - so manager Harry Redknapp, who handed a debut to 17-year-old Dean Parrett in the first leg, is expected to use some of his youngsters against the Ukrainian champions.

Dawson told Five: "Look at the players who've come in, we had a great team out there and believed we could come here and win. But we know how good we are at home and we'll have to take the game to them."

Redknapp had an entire team out injured on Thursday night, but his side held on until 12 minutes from full-time.

Yevgen Seleznov opened the scoring with a header from a free-kick, then Jadson added a second with two minutes remaining.

"I thought we did well in the first half and for the first half hour of the second half - but what happened at the end has cost us," Dawson added.

"We knew coming to a place like this they would have a lot of the ball but we're disappointed. It's going to be an uphill task - but we still believe we can do it."

Redknapp was pleased with Parrett, and the likes of Oscar Jansson, Adam Smith, John Bostock, Ryan Mason or Jonathan Obika could be called upon for the return leg at White Hart Lane.

"I gave one 17-year-old his debut and might have four 17-year-olds next week," said Redknapp. "When we play the second leg it will only be half as strong as this side.

"If someone can tell me how to find a team the Thursday before a cup final then I'd like to know. It's a crazy schedule, six games in 17 days and all big games. We have good young players and this is good experience for them."