SuperSport United prospect Jesse Donn won man of the match award after a goalless draw with AmaZulu FC in their midweek encounter.

The match was held at the Jonsson Kings Park Stadium on Tuesday night.

The ex-Ubuntu Cape Town FC player who joined the side last year, enjoys being a starter on the team at his respective position.

Matsatsantsa website caught up with the 22-year-old central midfielder as he reflected on their previous match and shared his views on their next match on the road against Swallows FC.

The accolade must have been a big motivation after your midweek match away?

Although my focus is on helping the team and not on winning individual awards, it’s always nice to know your work is being noticed.

Also, you getting the second one within a short space of time, this must be a sign of hard work?

Absolutely! It’s a sign of hard work not only in the past few weeks but for the past few years. It’s easy to see the awards now and forget about the past seasons where I barely played at all and wasn’t in a good space mentally. Those years/seasons prepared me for where I am today. 

Hopefully this will push you to put some effort on the field at training, isn’t it?

The Man of the Match’s award actually don’t affect my attitude at training at all. Yes, it can give you a boost of confidence, but I’m still the same Jesse who had to grind out two seasons of warming the bench. I always aim to give my best, regardless of accolades.

We had a numerical advantage after Tercious Malepe got sent off but failed to utilize it – what is your take?

 After their red card we tried our best to play more attacking football and we definitely created a few opportunities to score. Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to convert those chances. 

As the match progressed, we also got our player receiving the same bookable offence and he’s out for the next match this weekend against Swallows – thoughts?

 Luke Fleurs is definitely going to be missed in our next two games. Him and TT (Thatayaone Ditlhokwe) have been extremely solid in our opening few fixtures, only conceding one goal, which was a penalty. That being said, I have full faith that whoever replaces him will pick up where Luke left off. 

What was the message from the team after receiving the accolade?

We didn’t talk about the Man of the Match award much, and rightly so. It’s honestly not all that important. But of course, all the guys congratulated me and have been encouraging me to keep it up. 

The draw took the team up to position two, another big motivation – isn’t it?

 I think we are in a decent position on the log, but we know that the smallest margins have been the difference between staying second and jumping into first. It is still very early in the season so our focus isn’t on the table, but on team performance and results.

The next match is obviously a tough one, Swallows are hard to beat and would usually push to settle for a draw than losing?

 Swallows are a good team who have added quite a few new faces to their squad. But we know what to expect from them and will prepare ourselves as best as we can, regardless of who or how they play. 

They are a good side with some experienced players, what should be the right approach in your personal opinion?

They have tons of good players, but we cannot focus on them. We respect them as a team, but on the pitch it’s war. Our approach is the same as always, going for the three points. 

Are you seeing your partnership in the midfield improving or difficult reflecting to the games played already?

The best partnerships take time, so naturally the more Tebza (Teboho Mokoena) and I play together the better our understanding of each other becomes. Tebza is an outstanding player, so I’m enjoying learning as much as I can from him.