Hayden hails Gayle

Gayle struck his second treble of the season in the weekend victory over Gary Rowett’s side, as United got back to winning ways after three successive defeats in all competitions.

Hayden’s impressive display in the middle of the park extended to laying on the second goal of the afternoon for Gayle in front of the Gallowgate End, and after the game the former Arsenal man said that the Magpies’ leading goalscorer was one of the deadliest players he’d line up alongside.

“Anything inside the box, we know that nine times out of ten he’s going to put it in the back of the net,” Hayden told nufc.co.uk. “He’s a fantastic finisher – he’s the best finisher I've played with, certainly, especially in and around the box. Anything that drops, you’re confident he’s going to score.

“It’s great to have a player like that in the team. It’s not only his goals, but the things that go unnoticed; his work rate today was fabulous, and it is every game. He stretches defences and by doing that, he gives more players time and space on the ball. He’s an important player for us.”

England Under-21 international Hayden was part of the Newcastle team that were beaten at Nottingham Forest last time out in a controversial encounter at the City Ground.

And while he says that any perceived injustices from last Friday’s Sky Bet Championship clash had been put to bed ahead of this weekend’s game, Hayden believes that it was “imperative” for Rafa Benitez’s men to respond with a positive result and display at St. James’ Park.

“Even if we had won last Friday, I don’t think it would have changed the mentality of the group going into this game,” said the 21-year-old. “I think it’s just about racking up the three points every week, every game that we can and that keeps us at the top of the table.

“I think it was imperative that we got back to winning ways. It wasn't the greatest week last week – I don’t think that some of our performances deserved the results that we got.

“I thought we played really well at Hull but didn't take our chances, gave a sloppy goal away and lost on pens and then whatever happened at Forest, I’ll leave other people to discuss. But I thought that even with nine men we played really well, and were unfortunate not to get anything.

“Today, it was important that we did get back to winning ways and got the three points. It was a resounding win. To get back to winning ways in the way we did was obviously pleasing, but the main thing today was just getting the three points on the board.”

Hayden added: “We’re not really looking at the table position at the minute because we’re not even half way yet, so we’re just trying to take it game by game.

“We just needed to put a marker out there again. With the losses in the league and the cup, I think it was just important for us to put a resounding performance out there to let people know that we’re still here, and we’re still at the top of the table.”