'I feel good' - Sunderland man reacts after returning from injury and outlines first-team ambitions

Sunderland defender Zak Johnson has outlined first-team ambitions after making his return from injury recently.

The 19-year-old England youth international defender spent time on loan at Hartlepool United and Dundalk in Ireland last season, building up a strong number of games and regular minutes in a valuable senior environment.

Johnson formed part of Régis Le Bris’ first-team group during pre-season and at the beginning of the new campaign before picking up a minor muscle injury. Johnson has now returned to action, gaining minutes for the under-21s against Derby County and Huddersfield Town.

“I feel good,” Johnson said after the Huddersfield Town under-21s clash. “Obviously coming off the back of a 70-minute game against Derby, I feel like it's good to get 90 minutes in the tank. It's been a long time since I've played in 90 minutes, so I was feeling a little bit leggy towards the end, but I feel like 90 minutes is important to keep developing.

“I'm just really glad for the team to get the three points. I know, obviously, with my assist in the end, that won the game, but I feel like a collective performance won us the game. A great finish by Aaron as well, so I'm just really pleased for the team to come here and get a win.

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“This is what you come into work for every day. When I was injured, it was tough because I was seeing the lads playing game in, game out, and even the opportunities to go with the first team don't happen when you're injured, and you feel like you're always missing out on something. So it's great to just be back out there, putting myself forward to impress anyone that I can, and playing with the lads is just something that I enjoy every time.”

On his first-team ambitions, Jonson added: “I feel like it puts a bit of pressure on my shoulders. And when I'm not on loan playing men's football, I've got to find that pressure and find a challenge. And I feel like being a little bit more of a leader and being an experienced player in this team, I know obviously I'm only young, but I feel like passing on that experience from what I gained from going out on loan to the other players is really important because it puts responsibility on myself and I feel like I have to take care with everything that I do in the game and make sure that ultimately I make this look easy for me to step up into a first-team environment.”