Aji Alese is eyeing more minutes on the pitch after a solid first-half display against Saudi Professional League side Al-Shabab. The Sunderland defender has been out of action with a foot injury he picked up during a heavy challenge in the Black Cats' defeat to Blackburn Rovers.
The 21-year-old defender has been one of the surprise packages since arriving from West Ham United earlier this summer. Not much was known of Alese prior to the move, but he's looked an assured addition.
The arrival of Tony Mowbray saw Alese given his opportunity to impress after being named amongst the substitutes by Alex Neil at the start of the campaign. He took that opportunity with both hands and his absence has been felt in recent weeks.
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Speaking to Sunderland's official Twitter about the win over Al-Shabab, Alese said: "Yeah it was a good contest, a good quality game from both sides. We created good chances and kept the ball well.
"We could have kept it better at times, defended well and kept a clean sheet. We got the goal in the first-half and won the game. Overall, it's good to top off a good week of training and good to get a win.
"It's always good to score goals and win games. I felt good. I feel like there's still a bit of sharpness to get back in the direction following the game. I think it was five and a half weeks now but I feel good.
"It was only 45 minutes so I need to get back up to 90 minutes, but overall it was good. It's always tough to be injured.
"Your job is a footballer and you want to be out there playing, but this international break means I didn't miss as many games as I would have if it was, lets say, the beginning of January. I was lucky in that sense but I've just been working hard.
"I was in last week when some of the other lads were off and got myself back. I'm happy to be back."
The winter break for the World Cup is a first of it's kind in England, with the top two tiers of domestic football in England brought to a halt. Alese said: "I think it's the first time some of us have ever experienced something like this but like you said it gave an opportunity for some of us to get back to fitness where we would have missed more games. This week has been hard but it's been good and hopefully we've gained a lot from it.
"We go back in a couple of days and we've got Millwall in a couple of days. Next weeks training will just be geared up for that. We've got the December run and the New year's run which is always tough so we've got to be ready for that."
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