Sheffield Wednesday striker Gary Hooper scored for a strong Owls side in a behind-closed-doors game as he looks to build up his fitness ahead of a potential return.

The former Celtic marksman has been extremely unfortunate with injuries and hasn't played a first-team game since way back in December 2017.

He has had various injuries in that time and several setbacks along the way so Wednesday will be cautious when dealing with the 31-year-old.

However, there was positive news today, with the Sheffield Star revealing that Hooper was one of the scorers as Wednesday beat Scunthorpe 5-1 in a game for players on the fringes and those coming back from injury.

This comes after the striker has spent the past few weeks involved with first-team training.

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With an international break coming up, Hooper will continue to step up his workload and will surely be eyeing up some more action for the U23s.

Wednesday have eight league games left this season and he will hope to feature and potentially impress as his contract at Hillsborough is up in the summer.

The Verdict

This is great news for Wednesday but particularly Hooper as he has been so unlucky with injuries in the past 15 months and he will be desperate to return.

Of course, this is only his first little step but it will do his confidence a lot of good to have scored.

Now, it's about building up that match fitness and getting more run-outs before hopefully playing for the first-team before May.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.