Joey Phuthi was back from international duty and causing havoc again in the Under-21 ranks on Tuesday.
The Zimbabwe international, fresh from his first senior minutes with his country, was a standout performer as the 21s defeated Wigan 2-0 at Hillsborough.
Inside the first two minutes, Phuthi’s electric pace created an opening which was turned into a goal by Favour Onukwuli.
All throughout, the forward was a thorn in the side of the Latics and Phuthi has big aspirations in the coming months on both the domestic and international stage.
Zimbabwe face Lesotho and South Africa in the June FIFA World Cup qualifiers and Joey is hopeful of playing a part.
He said: “I’m very happy with my football right now and hopefully next season I will keep improving.
“I am targeting to be back with the first team next pre-season, Steve (Haslam) and Andy (Holdsworth) have told me they want me to start impacting the first team from next season.
“They talk to me about my out-of-possession work and I will work on that and hopefully that won’t be an issue next season.”
Phuthi played the final few moments in Zimbabwe’s 3-1 friendly defeat to Kenya last week at the Bingu National Stadium in Malawi.
“It was definitely a good experience,” he said. “I enjoyed it, I have dreamt of this since I was young and the boys were great with me.
“Obviously I only got a few minutes but the manager has said to me that it’s a start and we have got to keep going forward. I am next hoping for the June World Cup Qualifiers – that is what I am aiming for now.
“There are some top players in the set-up so I need to keep backing myself and try and get into the squad.”
