Trai Hume is determined to make the most of the opportunity handed to him by Lynden Gooch's injury and stake his claim as Sunderland's regular right-back. Hume had grown frustrated at a lack of game time this season but Gooch's foot injury, sustained in the home win against Wigan Athletic ten days ago, has given him the chance to show new head coach Tony Mowbray what he can do.
After initially opting to use Luke O'Nien as Gooch's replacement at Blackburn last week, a further injury to Aji Alese meant that O'Nien was moved back to central defence and Hume brought in for his first Championship start in the home defeat against Burnley last weekend. Mowbray had hoped Gooch would be available against the Clarets but it seems he may have suffered a setback, with the academy product taking no part in yesterday's open training session at the Stadium of Light.
And that means Hume seems set to keep his place for Saturday's trip to Luton Town, which gives him another chance to impress Mowbray. "Every player wants to play - it's not nice when you're not playing, but sometimes it happens," said Hume.
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"Now I'm in the team and I want to try and do as best as I can, but that comes down to Lynden Gooch as well because he has been absolutely outstanding since the start of the season, so it's been tough for me to get in. Unfortunately for him, he's injured but it's an opportunity for me to step up and try to do as well as possible.
"It was good to get my first start in the Championship but the result, getting beat, made it bittersweet. Hopefully I can try and play as many games as possible up to the break, and hopefully win as many of those as possible."
Mowbray said recently that Hume has knocked on his office door on a couple of occasions to ask for more game time, and the youngster says it helps that the head coach is so approachable. Hume said: "Sometimes it can be hard, but with the gaffer he is very open and he wants us to come and ask the question.
"It's just like a conversation, he's very nice, he's friendly, he's like a friend or a father figure really. It's helpful and he tries to get to know you on a personal way.
"You can just go talk to him and there's no pressure or anything like that, it's just a conversation."
Against Burnley, Sunderland dominated the first half and took a 2-0 lead into the break. But the Lancashire side turned things around in the second period, going on to win 4-2.
Hume said: "In the first half, I think we were the better team by far. Then, coming out in the second half, Burnley showed their quality.
"You could see in the first half that we could match them easily, but in the second half we got stuck between two different lines and that's what cost us. It comes down to us as players. We conceded the first goal early and then we were caught in two minds.
"We've shown that we are good enough to match any team in the league, we feel like we are good enough and we know we're good enough. Just sometimes the results don't go your way and that's how it was on Saturday."
That reverse against Burnley meant that Sunderland have now lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, but their next opponents Luton also go into Saturday's game on the back of a bad result having been thrashed 4-0 at Watford. "It was a bad result for them and it was a bad result for us, so both teams are going to be up for it," said Hume.
"Both managers are going to get their team going. The most important thing for us is to go there and get the three points."
Hume was speaking after Sunderland's open training session, which saw more than 5,000 supporters visit the Stadium of Light during half-term to watch as Mowbray's men were put through their paces. Hume said: "It's good for the fans, and it's good for us to train in front of them.
"There's loads of fans who have come out just to see us train and it shows how much the club means to them, and how much they mean to us."
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