We spoke to Tuesday night’s MOTM, Aaron Hayden.
Speaking to CUTV, he said: “It was a good battle from the boys today. Really good battle from going one behind to a lapse of concentration. I feel like after our equaliser, we really pushed on and it felt like if anyone was going to win the game, it would be us.
“They had a few chances second-half, but I never really felt at any point they were going to score. But really positive, we're going in the right direction,
"This league's funny that anyone can beat anyone on the day. But, they're at the top of the league for a reason, so it's always going to be a healthy point. But we want to get wins, we're not satisfied with that, even though we're bottom of the league, but it's positive signs.”
Walsall took the lead through a goal from Taylor Allen, Aaron gave us his assessment of it, saying: “It’s the second phase off a set-piece, so we're squeezing up and not organised on coming up, and, yeah, the guy's got back stick and he's poked it in near post. It was a good shot, to be fair, a lot of power in it.
"I feel like our reaction was very, very good, really positive, and went and stuck my head on one down at the other end, which I've been meaning to do since the beginning of the season.
“It felt good to finally open my account since coming back.”
Aaron was pleased with the defence, other than the lapse for the goal, he explained: “I think other than that we were quite healthy, I feel like it was a clean sheet performance without the clean sheet, obviously.
“Bar that, I feel like we were quite organised and resilient, I thought T (Terell Thomas) and Sam [Lavelle] were amazing, also Archie [Davies] and Kads (Kadeem Harris), Kads is not really a defensive player, but he always tracks back, you see him there making slide tackles in the far corner, so it kind of epitomises the endeavour and the work rate, I don't think anyone can question that from the boys, which is the most important thing in this situation we're in.
“Without that, you're not getting out of it, but I feel like we will, because we have that, and the talent comes out on top of that.”
On Walsall, and the threat they carried, Aaron said: “They're good players and you've got to give them their respect, but yeah, I feel every game in this league has its own difficulties. I think we did well to keep them quiet today, limit them a few headers that went wide, no power on them, so I'm quite happy with the way the defence performed as a unit, and also the second balls and things that people don't see, winning them headers, because they're quite a direct team, I feel like we dealt with that side of the game quite well.”
Speaking on his equaliser further, he stated: “It's about timing, it's just what I've been working on whilst being out of the team. But the ball came today and I put my head on it and the rest is history. But, yeah, it's a point, but I would have liked it if it was the winning goal, but I'm just grateful that I was able to score today and help the team and contribute.
“You know, it's hard when you're watching, so to actually have a part and affect the game today was really nice, personally.”
Late on, United broke forward and looked poised to win it, Aaron gave us his view of that, explaining: “When I saw Archie go through, I knew we'd get one more attack, when I looked at the clock I was like, I'm going to get one more attack, and Archie went down the line, I thought, yeah, this is it now, I could feel it, and he put a wicked ball in, and that's what it's been this season, you know, that drop.
"If we keep banging that door, if you keep banging the door, eventually it has to open, so if we keep doing it, it'll be alright, we'll get that winner, and the place will rise.”
Aaron also addressed that noise from the fans, who were behind us all night, stating: “All of you guys have been excellent, so I'd say just keep staying behind us.
“Brunton Park was amazing today, I could feel the energy in there, and I feel like give the boys a boost, so people just need to really understand that energy that they come with and they bring really does make a difference on the pitch, and to go on and get those three points, it's like the twelfth man is a real thing, you know.”
