Sangare pleased to be taking his chance

Sangare has started six times for the Magpies’ second string since the start of the New Year and has found the net three times, with his latest goal coming in last Monday’s comfortable Premier League Cup victory over Colchester United at Whitley Park.

A relatively recent recruit, Sangare arrived at United’s Little Benton Academy in 2016 and made a handful of appearances for Dave Watson’s Under-18s last term. Originally from Liberia, he only moved to England at the age of 14, leaving his homeland to be with his mother in Greater Manchester.

After making his Under-23s debut on the opening day of the campaign, the powerful midfielder has caught the eye of late, and believes he is well on the way to taking the opportunity presented to him by the absence of the likes of Dan Barlaser and Jack Colback.

“To be fair, (coach Ben Dawson) has given everyone a chance. Even if those players were here, I would still be in and around the squad. There were a lot of numbers before – I was still getting a bit of game-time but I think the lads going on loan has given me more time on the pitch, so that has done me good,” he told nufc.co.uk.

“I’m starting to get my confidence back, and that’s a good thing. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been through some ups and downs but obviously the staff, and everyone here, help a lot. I appreciate that. There’s a lot of help around the Academy if you need it. I’m feeling settled in. Playing on Monday, scoring, I feel like I’m taking my chance.”

United’s Under-23s have had a mixed campaign thus far. Four successive defeats have left the Magpies second from bottom of the Premier League 2 Division Two, though they do remain involved in three different cup competitions.

One of those is the Premier League International Cup, in which they will take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday night for a place in the last four.

With further knockout football to come before the end of the month, Sangare feels there is much for Newcastle’s youngsters to look forward to – despite their disappointing league placing at present.

“I would say the league games haven’t gone our way – there’s room for improvement there,” he said. “Some games that we should have won, we haven’t, and some games that we shouldn’t have won, we have. That’s football. We can always do better.

“You go with the same mentality in every game we play. That’s what we do. I go into every single game thinking, ‘Let’s give it a right good go here.’ You’ve always got to have that in your locker. We’ve lost against Southampton 6-0 and 5-1 this season, but we don’t think about that – we’re moving forward and we look to improve, and I’m definitely looking forward to the next few games.”