Swansea City Oli McBurnie delighted with Trophy brace
10th January
Striker Oli McBurnie hopes he has caught the eye of head coach Paul Clement after his brace booked the under-21s a spot in the Checkatrade Trophy quarter-final.
McBurnie struck twice as the young Swans came from behind to beat Wolves Academy at the Liberty Stadium on Tuesday night.
The 20-year-old has made three Premier League appearances this season and netted a double against Peterborough in the EFL Cup in August.
And he hopes his performance and scoring form will have impressed new head coach Clement.
McBurnie struck twice as the young Swans came from behind to beat Wolves Academy at the Liberty Stadium on Tuesday night.
The 20-year-old has made three Premier League appearances this season and netted a double against Peterborough in the EFL Cup in August.
And he hopes his performance and scoring form will have impressed new head coach Clement.
"Paul Clement came into the dressing room to congratulate everyone afterwards, which was fantastic," McBurnie said.
"He spoke to me yesterday and said to go out and impress in the game. Hopefully I did and he will consider me from here. I would love to have more involvement and game-time with the first team.
"He spoke to me yesterday and said to go out and impress in the game. Hopefully I did and he will consider me from here. I would love to have more involvement and game-time with the first team.
"Anyone that knows me know that I aim to play in the first team here at Swansea City. I won't get too carried away though. I just need to keep focused, performing well and doing what I am doing - hopefully my chance will come."
The young Swans were outplayed in the first half as midfielder Christian Herc fired Wolves into the lead after a quarter of an hour.
But the home side rallied in the second half as McBurnie stabbed home an equaliser three minutes after the restart before the Scotsman capitalised on continued waves of pressure to head the winner in the 86th minute.
"I am delighted we could get the win," he continued. "We were not happy with our first-half performance and knew we needed to improve if we were to stay in the competition.
"We had some tough words at half-time and came out fighting in the second half. We looked like a different team.
"We had some tough words at half-time and came out fighting in the second half. We looked like a different team.
"There was a couple of points where you felt tonight might not be our night but getting the early goal was vital and it set us up nicely to go on and win from there.
"Tonight's result shows we have a good spirit and character to change the momentum and come back in a game like this. We did not let our heads drop - it brought a reaction out of us to win."
Other results in the competition saw Leicester, Brighton and Reading's under-21s sides go out with defeats, leaving Swansea as the only academy side left in the competition.
"It only shows how much we have achieved," McBurnie added. "We don't like to get too carried away. We just have to take it game by game and see where it gets us.
"One this is for sure, this competition is helping players like me develop. It is giving us a real good experience to play against EFL teams and games in front of crowds like tonight."
