Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray was full of praise for defender Jenson Seelt after Saturday’s 3-1 win over Birmingham City.
Jobe Bellingham gave the Black Cats the lead against his former club, before Ryo Miyoshi scored at the half hour mark to make it 1-1 going into half-time.
An own goal from Blues’ centre-back Dion Sanderson in the 57th minute gave Sunderland the lead once again, before substitute Adil Aouchiche scored the third and final goal to seal all three points at the Stadium of Light.
Mowbray praises ‘talented’ 20-year-old
Speaking to the Sunderland Echo following the match, Mowbray explained why Seelt has not played much this season, and praised his qualities on the ball.
“I thought Jenson was good.
“In our minds, we’ve been wanting to get him on the pitch but it’s difficult [with Ballard and O’Nien’s form].
“Really, he was going to come on and play.. he can play holding midfield and we thought he would come on and roll into midfield like we do with Trai Hume often. Jenson can do that because he’s so talented with the ball at his feet.
“Today he stood up to the test, you could see at times that it was a bit quick when they really jumped on us and pressed, there were times when it was a fraction of a second away from us being caught on the ball.”
Will Seelt retain his starting spot
Seelt has had to wait patiently for his first start, but he certainly took his chance.
The 20-year-old has made three appearances so far in the Championship this season since joining in the summer from PSV Eindhoven.
Due to the form of Dan Ballard and Luke O’Nien, Seelt has struggled to get a look in so far.
He will have to put in a a lot of hard work if he is to retain his starting spot, as Ballard and O’Nien were only suspended for the one game, due to their accumulation of yellow cards.