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Cape Town - Orlando Pirates coach Kjell Jonevret has praised debutant Yusuf Maart's work ethic and says the youngster could have a big future in the game.
The Pirates youth development product, who rose to prominence in the MultiChoice Diski Challenge league, made his debut for the Buccaneers after coming off the bench in a 3-1 Nedbank Cup win over EC Bees last weekend.
Jonevret says that the attacking midfielder's commitment on the training ground made it an easy choice to hand the player his first senior outing for the Sea Robbers.
"I like to give young players a chance when there is a possibility," the Swede told the club's official website. "Yusuf worked hard at training and was one of the guys I saw directly that he wants to go forward.
"He is positive in his approach and he is a hard worker. So, yes, it was absolutely worth it to give him a chance. We gave him five to ten minutes but hopefully that will encourage him to work even harder. I think he has a bright future ahead of him."
Although EC Bees play in the third tier, they put up a good fight against Bucs and Jonevret was more than pleased with the outcome of the game.
"The win over EC Bees was a very important one for us for a couple of reasons.
"For starters, this is a cup competition and in cup competitions of this nature surprises can happen like was the case with Cape Town City and Ajax Cape Town. In EC Bees we faced a team with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
"For me it was especially satisfying because we have been playing good football for a while and although we have been collecting a point per game, I always felt that in most of the matches we deserved all three points.
"Since my arrival we played four games without losing and now we finally have a win and that's because of the hard work our players and technical team have been putting in."
