Dowie's anguish at loss

Iain Dowie spoke of the anguish after Athletic’s 1-0 semi-final play-off loss at Loftus Road when he said, “We have shown heart and commitment all the way and losing this game doesn’t change my pride in the team, in fact our performance reinforced it. The lads were magnificent and I thought we did enough to go through after defending strongly and making chances. It’s terrible to stand here and talk about defeat because everyone has given their all over the course of the season. I believe we deserved better, but it wasn’t to be. This is the biggest disappointment of my career – I expected us to get through this semi-final and I thought we had enough to go up. I’m not being critical, though, because the team’s fantastic attitude has taken us such a long way this year. We can defend, we can score goals and we can give any side problems so, although missing out hits you hard, the lads should react with pride in what they have achieved."


"It went right through to the end with a terrific performance against a very good team. If we had to lose to any club, I’m glad it was QPR. Nobody should be disheartened because we have the nucleus to do even better next season when players like Fitz Hall, Chris Armstrong, Will Haining and Les Pogliacomi will be that little bit older and wiser. This makes us even more determined. Yes, it burns in the heart and I’m angry and frustrated, but we will stiffen our resolve to win promotion next year.”