Sunderland winger Jordan Henderson admits talk of being withdrawn inspired his matchwinning performance against West Ham United.
Black Cats boss Steve Bruce hinted in the run-up to Sunday's game that the time might be right to give the academy graduate a rest after an almost non-stop run in the first team since his emergence from the ranks.
However, that simply served to increase Henderson's resolve to double his efforts on the training pitch to catch the manager's eye, and both men received their rewards when the midfielder chose the perfect moment to score his first goal of the season and clinch a 1-0 victory.
Having avoided the chop, the youngster is now intent upon ensuring that Bruce no longer feels the need to give him a breather.
Henderson said: "There had been a little bit of talk that I might not have been playing and it made me a little bit disappointed, so I made sure in training it was clear I wanted to play and I wanted to go out and make sure I did things right.
"I have been disappointed in the last couple of weeks. I don't think I have played particularly well, so this week in training, I really knuckled down and went back to basics.
"I just want to kick on from here and keep going."
