ALEX Neil says his midfield starlet Dan Neil looks refreshed after a spell out the side and the Sunderland boss liked what he saw from him in their recent victory.

20-year-old Neil came on in the second half of their 2-0 win over Crewe Alexandra to score the goal to put them into the lead at the Stadium of Light. Patrick Roberts sealed the win in the 89th minute finish with a driving shot inside the box.

The midfielder has been a key part of their season starring in 41 games so far and winning the North-East Football Writers Young Player of the Year Awar. But his manager recently pulled him out of the side citing physical and mental fatigue from playing so many game.

Based on what he saw on Saturday, he says that method of revitalisation was always the aim.  

Manager Neil explained: “What we need to bare in mind with Dan is when I walked in the building, Dan played the first two games that I managed and then after that we all looked at him and thought ‘this kid needs a rest and taking out of the firing line’.

“What then happens is four or five games down the line, we haven’t lost a game since he came out of the team but then people are saying ‘why is Dan Neil not playing?’

“The simple fact is you’ve got to earn the right to be in the team first and foremost but equally we need to make sure we used him sparingly to protect him as much as anything else, same as we’ve done with Callum Doyle. They were in that situation.

“The situation hasn’t changed overnight. What’s happened now is Dan looks refreshed. I thought he came on and had a really good impact in the game so that’s the situation we wanted to get ourselves in four games ago. Now we seem to find ourselves there and that’s not by mistake.

“We need to make sure we’ve got perspective in terms of where it was because people forget things in football. So a game down the line, why’s Dan not playing? He’s not playing because four games ago, the kid was knackered.

“If you look at Patrick (Roberts), he’s getting sharper and fitter every game and I thought he had a great impact when he came on.”

Sunderland now have a free week on the training ground with their next League One outing being away to Lincoln City next Saturday.