Austria 0-1 Croatia

Hickersberger says his team will need four points from their next two games

Austria coach Josef Hickersberger said his players can take heart from the way they responded to a nightmare start in their 1-0 loss to Croatia at Euro 2008.

Luka Modric's fourth-minute penalty was the fastest in the history of the tournament, but Austria fought back to dominate the second half.

"This was the worst possible start you can have in an opening match of a major tournament," said Hickersberger.

"We were nervous early on but we played well in the rest of the match."

Hickersberger added: "We even dominated in the second half of the match.

"We had good opportunities but unfortunately we weren't able to score a goal so we are empty handed. In our remaining games we need four points to go through."

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Austria captain Andreas Ivanschitz said the result did not really reflect how well his side had played at the Ernst Happel Stadion.

"I am very proud of our performance," said Ivanschitz.

"We were completely down after the fourth minute, but it was great to see how the team got back up again and played really well in the second half."

Austria's next game is against Poland, who also lost their opening match of the tournament against Germany on Sunday.

"We are already in the final, but not the final we hoped for," said striker Roland Linz.

"There are no excuses, we must win against Poland."

"The supporters were great. We hope to give them something back on Thursday."

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Highlights: Austria 0-1 Croatia