Jordan Henderson praises Ajax's 'character' after draw with Bodo/Glimt, says they must 'start games better'

Ajax midfielder Jordan Henderson credited the "great character" shown by his Ajax team-mates, but says they must "start games better" after two injury-time goals saw the Eredivisie side draw 2-2 with Bodo/Glimt in the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League play-off tie.

Henderson played 90 minutes in his first European game for Ajax since completing a move from Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq in January.

Bodo/Glimt took a surprise 2-0 lead in Amsterdam thanks to two goals from Albert Gronbaek.

But a Branco van den Boomen 91st-minute penalty and a dramatic 97th-minute equaliser from Steven Berghuis ensured the Dutch side enter the second leg on February 22 on level terms.

Former Liverpool captain Henderson praised his team-mates for getting back into the tie, but insists they must "start games better", also citing Ajax's defeat to Heerenveen last Sunday where they went 3-0 down before losing 3-2.

"They're a good team," he told TNT Sports. "They set up really well, very organised. They hurt us on the counter-attack a couple of times. We did well in the end to come back from 2-0 behind.

"We showed great character again but we leave it too late. You've got to start games better and start games like we finish in the last couple. If we do that then it can be a different game.

"In the end the lads kept going right until the end, got our rewards and kept the tie alive.

"It says a lot about the character of the team to keep going. It's a very young team as I keep saying and they're going to make mistakes and we've got to learn from those mistakes as a team.

"But we keep going, especially in football you never know what can happen. You've seen in the last 10 minutes we had a good go and managed to get two goals and kept the tie alive. We need to do that for longer periods in the game not just towards the end.

"We need to start well and play like that for 90 minutes if we can and that's the aim for the next game."

Henderson, who picked up a yellow card in the 87th minute, was making only his third appearance for Ajax.

The 33-year-old is still waiting for his first win at the club after two draws and a defeat, but says he has settled in "very quickly" in the Netherlands.

"Really good with the group," he said.

"The players have been really good with me, I've settled in really quickly. The staff as well have been brilliant. On that part it's been really easy for me to come and settle in.

"But it's going to take a while for us to get to where we want to get to and I just want to keep trying to play games and help the team as much as possible to get the team to where they want to be."

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