SuperSport United head coach Gavin Hunt believes there is still 'a long way to go' for rising star Ime Okon who was awarded the Man of the Match in a 2-1 win against Moroka Swallows.
Matsatsantsa ended a run of five matches without a victory across all competitions with a dramatic 2-1 win over Swallows on Friday afternoon.
On the day, teenager Okon walked away with the Man of the Match award, a third one for the season and the most won by a defender in the DStv Premiership so far.
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The 19-year-old was also named in the 50-man preliminary Bafana squad that will report for camp on 4 January before being trimmed down to the final 23 that will go to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast.
Okon has been immense for SuperSport this season, missing just one of the Tshwane outfits’ matches so far, and against Swallows. Despite the teenager’s rapid rise to stardom, Hunt insists there is still a long way to go.
"He still has a long way to go, he has a long way to go. There are a lot of things," he said.
"If you compare him to what I have had in my coaching career he has the ingredients. But a long way to go. I mean he has not scored a goal yet in 17 or 18 games and he has had to learn without me taking me out. He has to play because we don’t have anybody else.
"So he is getting a lot of game-time with us and he should have been out of the team a few times. But I haven’t [excluded him from the team] because we don’t have anybody. He is learning on his feet, he was brilliant at the start but obviously centre-backs mature later than the rest of the players," explained Hunt.
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However, at just 19, Hunt is confident that the centre-back will only get better.
"The best centre-backs all over the world are over 30 years, you can look anywhere in the world," added Hunt.
"So, he has a long way to go and maturity at centre-back takes time. He needs time out and time in, but we have just had him playing every game because we have had so many problems.
"So it’s good for him but also not good sometimes for his development you know what I mean. When he plays next to Tyson (Thulani Hlatshwayo) because Tyson can coach him throughout the game [he gets better]."
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