After a long spell on the sidelines because of injury in the first half of the season, Abdullahi is working his way towards a first appearance for the first team.
And he did his chances no harm with an eye-catching display for Murty’s side in the 7-0 dismantling of Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night, as Sunderland’s youngsters qualified for the knockout stages of Premier League 2.
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Murty is delighted with the progress Abullahi is making – and revealed the striker was true to his word having told the Under-21s boss he would score a hat-trick before the Huddersfield game.
“He looks a lot sharper and fitter. He looks a lot more like he would like to look,” said Murty.
“He said he’d get a hat-trick! It’s really good for our young players to see that when you’re playing as a nine you will be judged on goals.
“He’s looking sharper, so credit to him. Hopefully that gives him that positive reinforcement. Sometimes when you’re on that rehab trail you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, but to feel sharp, strong and to get the reward with the goals is a really really good boost for confidence.
“He looked much more complete than he has done previously.”
As well as Abdullahi, Jayden Jones, Jack Whittaker and Ben Middlemas were on target for Sunderland’s Under-21s, with Huddersfield also scoring an own-goal.
Alan Browne took a big step towards his first team return by getting 45 minutes under his belt, his first outing since fracturing his leg in November.
“I challenged the players at the start to give us a 90-minute performance, to show that they’re not only good players but they’re developing an understanding of what we do. I thought you saw it in spades,” said Murty.
“I think the way that we started really set a good, strong foundation for the performance. We were really slick with the ball, we were really smooth and the tempo that we played at was really, really high. On quite a cold, blustery night, I thought that they managed the conditions really well.
“It’s knockout football now, so they need to understand if you’re going to turn up and do this in a performance, you need to back it up.”
