Hayden Mullins gave his reaction to today’s 3-1 victory over Walsall in the FA Cup first round.
“Yeah, it was a real, real tie, I think, that was a quick pace, fast game, a lot of challenges in there, a lot of duels. We had to recover from a goal down.
“I think boys did it really well and it's good to see the lads, and they can gain a head of steam at home, and they can really sort of drum up a bit of pressure.
“Like I say, it was never in the plans to obviously go down one, but they stuck to the game plan, they stuck to our task and how we tried to set up.
“You know they come out on the right side of the result, which is fantastic.”
Kion Etete scored twice in today’s fixture, being one of the key points to helping County turn the game around and put us into the next round, and Mullins had high praise for him.
“Yeah, it was one which we worked hard to gain. So, we spoke about trying to press and trying to enforce in areas where we knew they would try and play.
“And his result of his goal is the hard work of Yahya and the Biggins and people that apply the pressure to nick the ball to then give it to him in that good position.
“We want to try and win the ball high, we want to be aggressive, we want to press high. We always talk about the rewards, you can win the ball closer to the opposition's goal, which we did today a couple of times.
“One where Harrison Biggins chipped into Michael (Adu-Poku) where he didn't quite get his touch set in there just before the goal, but then obviously for the goal we went it really high. One passing, they're finally fair.
“And Kion's finished it really well, it's a great finish. He thought he was going to take it a little bit earlier, but he had the confidence and the composure to shift it inside him and hit it really well.
“He deserved it, he set the press for us really well, he works hard and he's been a real bright spot for us.”
Etete has played a total 201 minutes (across all competitions) since returning from injury and his increased game time and consistent minutes are allowing him to thrive.
“I think Kion was obviously injured in the first part of the season. I don't know too much about Kion's personal history before this, but the player I see is someone who's good back to goal, holds the ball up really well, ball in the air, he's got the composure to bring it down and bring his teammates into play.
“He likes to run in behind. I think he looks like someone who's really enjoying his football, if I'm being honest.
“He looks like someone who's happy, happy in the environment. That's his third goal for us, which is brilliant. I thought he should have maybe had a hat-trick on the run just before he came off.”
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