Sean Fusire reveals Sheffield Wednesday instruction after earning 'opportunity' vs Sunderland youngsters
Sean Fusire completed the full 90 minutes as Sheffield Wednesday defeated Sunderland’s Under-21s 2-0 in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy.
Sheffield Wednesday defender Sean Fusire has admitted Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over Sunderland’s Under-21s in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy was an opportunity for him to try and make his mark after a recent spell on the sidelines.
The Owls academy graduate, who spent time with the Zimbabwe squad during the international break, made his first Wednesday start of the season and his first appearance since stepping off the bench in the 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the first round of the Carabao Cup in August.
The 21-year-old started at right-back and produced an accomplished performance that was capped off with an assist for Jaden Heskey’s first-half opener. The Owls made sure of all three points and their place in the next round of the competition via a second half rocket from Barry Bannan.
Fusire, who completed the full 90 minutes, frequently got forward from right-back, with Owls manager Henrik Pedersen repeatedly urging him to advance into attacking positions during the second half.
Reflecting on his first Owls start since the final day of last season, Fusire told the club’s in-house media: “I think when you've not played for a while, naturally, you've always got questions of yourself. But I think it was an opportunity for me to go and do what I thought I could.
“I think coming off a couple of injuries, sometimes you’re a bit worried about whether I’ll be able to do this or do that. So, I just tried to push myself as best as I could.
“A big part of what the staff were pushing me to do was to get forward a lot, so I tried to do that.”
Wednesday opened the scoring with 21 minutes on the clock when Heskey, who returned to Hillsborough on loan from Manchester City last month, delicately dinked the ball over Black Cats goalkeeper Joe Cowan after being picked out inside the box by Fusire, who had exchanged a neat one-two with Jarvis Thornton to create the chance.
Fusire added: “Jaden's my boy; he's one of my closest friends in the team. It was really nice to see it [his goal].
“We were literally talking before the game about that we'd not played together for ages, with him being back for a while now and me being out. It was really nice to see him get that.”