Werder Bremen’s Josh Sargent says “good things happen when you work hard” after the American striker scored his second goal in as many games on Sunday.

The 21-year-old opened the scoring away to Cologne on Matchday 24, finding the net with a firm header in an eventual 1-1 draw.

It comes just a week after the Bremen No.19 netted the winner in an impressive 2-1 triumph over an in-form Eintracht Frankfurt side, and means he has hit three in his last six appearances after he was also on the scoresheet in the 4-1 success away to Hertha Berlin on Matchday 18.

Watch: Highlights of Bremen's draw with Cologne

Now on four goals in 2020/21, he has already equalled his personal best single-season tally set last year – and still has 10 more games to improve on it.

“I’ve been pretty consistent with saying I want to work as hard as I can,” the Missouri native told bundesliga.com after the final whistle against Cologne when asked for the reasons behind his uptick in scoring form.

“I think good things happen when you work hard. So hopefully the goals keep going in.”

He will have his next chance to do just that on Wednesday in the rearranged Matchday 20 fixture away to 16th-placed Arminia Bielefeld. Victory there would put the Green-and-Whites 11 points clear of relegation danger heading into the business end of the season, which would no doubt come as a relief after the club only survived via the relegation play-offs in 2019/20.

Watch: Sargent: "Good things happen when you work hard"

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Aside from maintaining the team’s top-flight status, Sargent also has another objective in mind before the campaign is out: finishing as Bremen’s top scorer. He is currently at the top of the team’s in-house chart, albeit alongside Niclas Füllkrug and Leonardo Bittencourt on four goals.

“As a striker it would by silly not to want to be the top scorer in your team,” he said prior to the Cologne game. “I want that and the season’s not over yet. I’ll keep working hard to achieve it.

“Obviously I’d like to score more often. I’m still very young and have got time to learn, to work and to improve.”

Head coach Florian Kohfeldt is among his admirers and is backing the 12-time USA international to keep developing: “If he can recreate the calmness he shows in front of goal in training out on the pitch on a weekend, then I'm sure he can become a 15-goal-a-season striker."

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