Thomas Frank had more to be happy about in his press conference following Tottenham's 2-2 draw at Newcastle in the Premier League on Tuesday night.
Joelinton hit the left-hand post with a low effort in the first half as the hosts had chances while Spurs made it four games in a row without getting a shot on target in the first period of a game. They did improve after the interval only for Bruno Guimaraes to curl home an effort from the edge of the box on 71 minutes.
Captain Cristian Romero, back from suspension, levelled for Tottenham seven minutes later when he dived in to head home Mohammed Kudus' cross.
Then at the other end, referee Tom Bramall was sent to his monitor to look at a grapple between Rodrigo Bentancur and Dan Burn from a corner and the official awarded a penalty to the hosts which Anthony Gordon slammed home.
Romero was not done though as he leapt like a salmon to hook home an overhead kick goal in the 94th minute and grab the north London side a share of the spoils.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank after the game. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at St James' Park.
Did you expect Cristian Romero to be your two-goal striker tonight and to score an equaliser like that?
The perfect bicycle kick, hit the shin, aiming for the bottom corner. I think let's start praising Cuti, I think he deserved that for all of the top performance, defending, on the ball, coolness, calmness, duels. And then getting up there and scoring two goals. I think the bicycle kick will most likely get a little bit more praise, but I think the header is more exceptional, the way he does that is better than many strikers.
That said, I think I really liked the character, the mentality in the team, what they showed after three tough games, I think it's been. To go here, the fourth game in 10 days, the third away game, very difficult place, going down two times, being behind two times, and come back, it shows everything about the willingness and the mentality in the team.
And also, the second one is very disappointing to concede because for me it's never a penalty. Even speaking to some from Newcastle, who didn't think it's a penalty. And we need the consistency. Because that penalty, that would be given two times a game. And I think the referee call on the pitch nailed it. And VAR can only be if it's clear and obvious.
But, I want to speak about us, and the mentality coming back. And a great point away from home, I'm happy with that. I think our fans, exceptional, travelling, 3000 up here, the way they supported us throughout the game, singing, we also heard them singing and praising Vic throughout the game. That's togetherness.
How much does that mean to you, to hear them singing to the team and Vicario?
You could hear them here and it's a difficult place to come as away fans and be loud enough so we can hear them. So they put so much effort into it, matched the effort from the team and that togetherness drove us forward and it gave us a more than well-deserved point.
Do you think, given that the team's been in a difficult run recently, it makes such a difference to have that kind of individual leadership, individual heroism from Romero?
Yeah, of course. I think we can set everything nice tactically up and good principles and all that and try to do it, and that's the foundation and hopefully we can make a great team. But you know sometimes it's decisive actions from key players and Cuti definitely did that today.
Can you explain about how important it was for the team to show that spirit today?
Yeah, I think it's hugely important. I think the PSG performance was good. I think the team gave everything against Fulham. It was just a nightmare game in some ways because you're down 2-0 after six minutes, and then keep going and also get something out of it. But that's the only way forward, we know that. If you're a tough runner, there's only one way, and that is to work hard and keep going. And the team did that very well today.
Can I just double-check on Destiny Udogie at the end, he seemed to be limping a little bit, is he OK?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I haven't heard anything.
