REGIS LE BRIS praised Eliezer Mayenda’s match-winning capabilities after the striker made the most of his return to Sunderland’s starting line-up by scoring both of his side’s goals in tonight’s 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
Mayenda returned to the starting side for the first time in seven games as leading scorer Wilson Isidor was rested on the substitutes’ bench.
The Spaniard opened the scoring in the first half, bundling the ball home after it had struck his arm following a long pass from Leo Hjelde, before powering home an excellent header to restore Sunderland’s lead with 19 minutes remaining.
Mayenda has had to bide his time, waiting for another opportunity to lead the line, but Le Bris was delighted with the teenager’s performance at Hillsborough.
“Eli is still very young,” said the Sunderland boss. “He is only 19 and he is still learning. Even when he is on the bench, he is learning because when you are a young player, you can learn from being behind Wilson, who has been very impressive this season.
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“You have to wait for your opportunities, and if you are working well every day during the training sessions, then you can be happy, even if the situation is not necessarily the best one in terms of always being in the team.
“When you have an opportunity, you have to be ready to play, and he showed some very good qualities with his performance. I thought he played very well.
“Wilson has done really well this season and for sure is one of the best strikers in the league. At the same time, we need two or three strikers to be competitive in this league. It was the right time for him to recover a bit and Eliezer was ready, he's trained properly and been connected with the team.”
Le Bris made five changes to his Sunderland side in the wake of back-to-back defeats to Leeds and Hull. Two were enforced, with Enzo Le Fee and Dan Ballard unavailable because of injury, but three were Le Bris’ choice, with Dennis Cirkin, Chris Rigg and Isidor all dropping out of the starting side.
“It was very important to refresh the team because most of the players have played many games,” said the Sunderland head coach. “The depth of the squad is really important. We had four or five players able to play, and they deserved to have this opportunity. They played well.”
