After signing on loan from Bolton Wanderers last week, defender George Taft came straight into the side to make his debut on Tuesday night against Salford City.
United defended resolutely throughout, but were narrowly edged out following a late Ian Henderson goal. Speaking to iFollow Iron, he said: “I always think a last-minute goal are sometimes the worst ones. You just deflate, but I think we defended well up to that point and the lads put in a good shift.
“Everyone’s gutted. Everyone knows that we defended well and we felt like we didn’t deserve the loss. We could have probably created more and got more chances and hopefully that will come.
“I didn’t feel like they were going to score tonight, we defended well. Everything that came in the box we dealt with. The pitch did start to freeze up at the end which made it a little difficult to judge bounces, but it’s hard to take not getting a point at least.”
Taft, who was playing competitively for the first time since mid-November, also commented on his own performance as he pulled on the claret and blue jersey for the first time: “I felt I did well and stuck to the basics. I worked well with Tyler (Cordner); he was good today and he did really well as did Browny (Junior Brown).
"I just felt like I'm building those bonds. I’ve not been in building that long but I felt comfortable with those lads. I felt like I had their backs and they had mine.
“I didn’t know if I would get through the whole game, but I felt good. I felt fine so my fitness is there which is a positive to take out of the game.
Despite defeat, Taft feels United can build on the performance against a strong contender for promotion, taking that into the away match at Barrow on Saturday, adding: “I think a draw would have been fair. I think we have to take it as a positive because if you look at their team obviously on paper, they’ve got some very good individuals, some good players.
“We saw sparks of that tonight and we dealt with it. It’s just getting the other side and trying to get a goal ourself.
“The manager is disappointed, as we all are, but I think he saw how well the lads worked and we’re trying to stay as positive as we can and get ready for Saturday.
“The next game is massive they all are now. There are 24 games to go and we’ve got to go into every game and try to win.”
See much more from George Taft and Neil Cox on iFollow Iron.