Weird issue when going on vacation

Ok, this is a really strange issue and I could use some advice. I was in a game, winning 3-0, when my dad decided it would be a good time to start fooling around with the electrical breakers. Needless to say, my PC shuts off and all my progress is lost. Now, victory in this game does not matter, I have already mathematically secured the league title. BUT my young striker Yaya Sanogo who I am trying to play as much as possible to improve (I've seen screens of him with finishing 20 before) had scored 2 goals before halftime and already had a 8.8 rating or something.
I've spent a good 30 minutes reloading my save and going on vacation mode to try and re-simulate those lost goals, but for some reason my assistant coach insists on playing all my players who aren't even subs. I've simulated that game at least 10 times, and not once will Sanogo get a goal, even when I've won 5-0 and so on.
What I want to know is, will he improve faster if he is getting goals/playing better, or does it only matter that he is getting playing time regardless of his performance?
I really would like to recreate the lost game as close as possible(I know it will never be exact). When I go on vacation I do it for just the length of the game, and check use existing tactics and players. Is there anything else I can do to make it more likely that he will get those 2 goals? Or does that not even matter and should I just play him and not worry about the result of the game anyway?

I personally think that you should just play him and dont worry if he doesn't score because if he is young he will have a lot of time to progress and one game wont make a big difference but make sure he doesn't get injured because that can slow down his progression and he might not make his full potential.

If he's featured in your first team plans, it doesn't matter if he scores or not. His share of first team play should be enough to give him a boost towards fulfilling his potential.
Also make sure you have some decent coaches and training schedules in order to help your players get better as fast as possible.

Thanks for the info. I definitely have good coaches but I've never wanted to tamper with training schedules for fear that I will make it worse somehow.

I am confused - just play the game again as you did the last time - no need to go on vacation as that lets your assistant do things his way - unless i have missed your point?

When I play the game myself the results are not how they originally were in the lost game. One of the times I even lost! (This is to a much worse team). Basically I just wanted to recreate the game where I was up 3-0 at halftime and my striker had 2 goals, and going on vacation was the quicker method to do that. But if it doesn't matter if he scores or not I will just proceed regardless of the results

Neah, the result doesn't really matter that much, if he is on the field that that's good. Sometimes attributes can increase after a game, but you shouldn't worry about that, I've seen free kicks attribute increasing after a game that the player scored, so that matters, but I don't think for him, at such a young age, it matters that much, so just go on