Sheffield Wednesday: Two England goals not enough for goal-hungry George Hirst

The 17 year-old scored both goals in the Young Lions’ 2-0 victory over Poland at Stevenage on Thursday night, the first just before half time, a poacher’s finish after a cross from Sunderland’s Elliot Embleton.

The second arrived via a penalty which he himself won, when being brought down in the box after latching onto a mistake in the visitors’ backline.

However, a miss in the final moments of the game denied Hirst a memorable hat-trick for his country and Dewsnip revealed that Hirst was devastated in the dressing room afterwards, for passing up the chance of an international treble.

Dewsnip, who helped develop the likes of Wayne Rooney and Ross Barkley while working for Everton’s Academy before picking up the role with the FA, said: “He’s scored a great first goal, got himself a penalty kick which he’s converted.

“Then he’s in bits in the dressing over missing his third one right at the end. He can be really pleased with his performance.”

The brace capped off a great week for the son of Owls legend David, after another double in last weekend’s Steel City under 18s derby success over local rivals Sheffield United.

In hindsight, for Hirst the two goals he did score for England will offer more than a little comfort but aside from finding the net, the striker’s all-round performance came in for praise from Dewsnip, who hailed the Wednesday starlet’s work-rate on the night.

He said: “We changed it tactically at half-time, we thought we were a little bit passive and allowed them too much easy possession, so we sorted that out.”

“To be fair we’ve got a goal from that pressing, albeit from a penalty kick,” added Dewsnip. “So we’re very pleased with that. Well done the coaches and the players for that.

“George first and foremost worked really, really hard. He’s very honest as a player; his work ethic defensively for the team has an impact on everybody else.”