West Ham United U23s need to move on quickly from their difficult run of recent results, according to Mesaque Dju.
The 21-year-old forward made his return to action against Blackburn Rovers U23s on Friday evening, having spent the last three months on the sidelines with injury.
The Portuguese entered the offing as a second-half substitute with the Hammers 2-1 down to a Connor McBride brace either side of half-time.
That was despite those in Claret and Blue having the clearer opportunities, pulling a goal back through a deflected Keenan Forson shot.
Dju's introduction yielded an instant impact, the forward setting Dan Chesters away down the right flank moments after entering the field, but the right-back’s cross narrowly evaded everyone inside the box.
Yet as the winger and his teammates attempted to draw level, Blackburn managed to pull away as the game wore on.
Dju was therefore disappointed to finish on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline, believing it not to reflect the hard work his teammates put in prior to – and during – Friday’s fixtures.
He told whufc.com: “We feel bad because we’ve been working well every training session.
“We’ve been working hard to give everything in today’s game, but today it was difficult because it led to a bad result.
“We suffered a bad result, but we need to keep pushing to get better and do better in the next game. We need to forget this game and start thinking about the next game now.
“We can’t do anything now to improve our result from today – we need to think about the next game and give everything, every day, in training to get a better result next week.
“We’ll keep pushing. We know we have a good team, we only need to improve certain things to get a good result.”
Despite the disappointment of defeat, Dju admitted he was relieved to be back out on the pitch wearing Claret and Blue once again.
I felt happy to be back because it was almost four months out, almost four months off the pitch. Now I’ve come back from injury, I want to help the team
Mesaque Dju
Having netted twice in six Premier League 2 games prior to his injury troubles, he is hoping to replicate such form as the young Hammers look to climb the table in the second half of the season.
He said: “I felt happy to be back because it was almost four months out, almost four months off the pitch. Now I’ve come back from injury, I want to help the team.
“I need to work hard to get as fit as I was before my injury. I want to get back to doing what I was doing before my injury to help the team. I’m happy to be back. It’s one more player to help.
“I was ready to help today, but I think I can give more. As I say, I need to keep working to help the team in the next game.”
West Ham's U23s host Derby County U23s at Rush Green Stadium next Friday (26 February) in their next Premier League 2 game.
