Ben Waine: Plymouth Argyle striker 'desperate to learn'

Ben Waine's late goal at Leeds United was his first in the Championship and his sixth since moving to Plymouth from Wellington Phoenix in January

Plymouth Argyle boss Steven Schumacher says he has been impressed with Ben Waine's commitment at Home Park.

The 22-year-old New Zealander scored his first Championship goal at Leeds just before the international break and has seen more action after injuries to Ryan Hardie and Mustapha Bundu.

Waine played a half for New Zealand against Greece last week.

"He's always trying to improve, and that's the best thing I can say about Waino," Schumacher said.

"He's desperate to learn, he's desperate to get better and I think we're seeing that in his performances.

"His goal against Leeds was a really good goal and he got himself into an area where we expect our strikers to be.

"I felt in the Ipswich game he could have made a couple of those runs and got on the end of a couple of crosses late on and we spoke about it and highlighted it, so again he's learned from those opportunities."

Mustapha Bundu was injured a game after scoring his first Argyle goal against Sheffield Wednesday

Waine has made just two league starts this season as Hardie and Bundu have been preferred for the Pilgrims - although both missed the last two matches after suffering hamstring injuries at Ipswich Town last month.

Sierra Leone striker Bundu, 26, should be able to feature in Saturday's Championship game at home to Sunderland after returning to training.

"We've had Mustapha back on the grass this week, he's joined in the training sessions and he looks sharp enough, so he's available for the weekend, for some part of it," Schumacher told BBC Radio Devon.

"Ryan Hardie still won't be available for this, which is what we expect.

"He's doing okay, he's up to good numbers on his percentage of his maximum speed, Gareth (Law, Argyle physio) is really happy with where he's at, so we'll just play it by ear and see how he goes."