Post Match Quotes

Quotes from last night's 1-1 tie with San Jose Earthquakes:
Pablo Mastroeni:
"It would have been nice to get three points, obviously. We can't sit and sulk and feel sorry for ourselves. We just have to show up and be the team we are capable of."
Conor Casey:
"It was a good point given the circumstances but it was a terrible game from us. Just got to be a lot better going forward. To come out with a point is fortuitous. A little sloppy finishing, a bit off today. Unfortunately, it happens. When that's the case, it's hard to win games."
On reaching the season goalscoring record:
"It feels good but it will feel a lot better when we are in the playoffs. This is crunch time and we have to get in the playoffs."
Nick LaBrocca:
"It's huge (to get the point). We just need to keep picking up the points right now and, with our schedule, if we can keep picking them up, we can make our way into the playoffs."
Gary Smith:
"Disappointing to lose Jake so early. All of our wide players are lost now. I would think it's too quick a turnaround (for the weekend) for Jake given how he hobbled off."

"We've relied heavily on those guys (Casey and Cummings) all season. Goals around the team have been very hard to come by and those two have borne the brunt of pretty much everything we have created and scored from and, tonight, we fell just a little bit short. The front two are just not quite clicking as they did early on and when you are reliant on a pair as we are and they don't click, it's a big loss."

"In the end, we are fortunate to get a point again after a lot of possession and disappointed we didn't get all three."

"The reality is we are getting down to the nitty gritty of the season and our own game is obviously the most opportunistic to get three points and we have failed to do that. The balance is not good on the schedule but it's still four points from 12."

"I think we are now putting a lot more pressure on to not concede because the creativity in the group is slowly but surely starting to wane."

"If any of them are feeling a little bit sorry for themselves, then they need to quickly snap that and get themselves together for the weekend."

"If anybody was expecting a rest, they ain't going to get one. If they're fit, they're playing."

"With the lack of pace and cutting edge out wide, we're not quite getting what we want out of the team. So, it's not going to be easy. I'll make no bones about that. We've lost three important wide players who give us something different. They can turn a mediocre attack into something special. We've got to look to other areas to produce that and only time will tell if we can."

"They'll work it through to the final breath of the game. We've got two points out of six but we could have had zero and, maybe, in other years, we might have had zero and those two points could be very important."

On Mastroeni's return:
"He was great on the ball. On a night where two or three of our midfield players just fell short. Nick being shuffled to the right, he was out of the game a bit. Mehdi found if difficult. Kosuke has been a livewire and I felt his service fell short from where it was before. Pablo was one of maybe two or three players who really tried to make something happen, to light a fuse, create a spark. He did his utmost to keep the ball moving quickly, find a little angle, get it into feet a little bit sharper and just drive the lads on quicker. It was great to have him back."

"Drew was terrific again at center back and also, Julien, in the first half, defensively. The pair of them did very well."

On Facundo Diz:
"He will certainly benefit from wide service because he's a big strong guy, he attacks crosses. The fact is, we don't have the right personnel to really bring him out of his shell but he's a very genuine and game individual and we will see a lot more of him. At some point,we may have to call on him to come up trumps for us. This may be the time."

"Our conversion rate has to be clinical because we are not going to be as freely getting sights of goal as we were because we have lost some very influential players. What we need are some cool heads, we need some confidence and some real edge in front of goal. That will be the difference and every team will be asking for that. The teams that can produce that will be in the last eight, no doubt about it."