Russell Martin admits Swansea City are lucky to have Joel Piroe at the club following his match winner against Queens Park Rangers.
The Dutchman - who was the subject of transfer interest from clubs including Leicester City, Leeds United and Watford in the summer - netted his third goal in as many matches to earn the Swans a 1-0 victory over Michael Beale's men as Martin's side tasted success on home soil for the first time this season.
Piroe's ultimately decisive strike came just six minutes after he had a spot-kick saved by Seny Dieng following a handball from Jimmy Dunne. And Martin revealed the 23-year-old forward could not hide his frustration over the penalty miss in the dressing room after the game, despite having scored the winner.
READ MORE: Swansea City 1-0 QPR: Joel Piroe strikes to earn Russell Martin's men first home victory
"I was shocked he missed the penalty. He still is and such are his standards that he is really annoyed in the dressing room," said Martin.
"He scored the winning goal but he’s really angry with himself. What a brilliant young man. He has grown over the last year. What he gives us physically, out of possession, goes under-estimated and under the radar.
"He is so clever in the way he presses and what he gives the team. He had to do a lot of that today. He contributed the goal and the way he has dealt with all the speculation and all the noise has been incredible. He has been so focussed.
"I am really pleased for him that he’s got three goals in three games now and I expect him to hit the heights and do as well as he did last season. We are really lucky to have him. The best bit of business we did was to keep him, for sure.
"He does love it here. He’s genuine when he says that. The relationship he has with the staff and the rest of the squad is excellent. He is held in such high esteem and so long as he keeps working hard he will continue to be fantastic for us."
Such was the importance of the final stages of the match following late heartache against the likes of Millwall, Oxford United and Stoke City, the Jack Army raised the noise levels in injury-time.
And Martin admits his side had to play differently to usual against the Londoners given their extended travels in the opening month of the campaign.
"The fans were incredible, they helped us so much today," said Martin.
"We didn't have most of the ball at home. We've spent well over 24 hours on a bus with Middlesbrough and Stoke this week. A lot of tired legs. It's such a young team at the end, and they helped us so much. I think we had an average age of 23 in the end with so many debuts as well.
"The fans were incredible, I loved the atmosphere. We've been through a bit of a sticky patch, especially at home, so I feel like that's a huge win for everyone, including the supporters."
Michael Obafemi and Olivier Ntcham were both left out of Swansea's matchday squad for the contest.
The Swans rejected three bids from Burnley for Obafemi in the latter stages of the summer transfer window while Ntcham flattered to deceive in his late cameo at Stoke on Wednesday night.
And Martin has revealed young guns including Ollie Cooper, Fin Stevens, Armstrong Oko-Flex and Luke Cundle deserved the chance to be included in the 18-man squad over other members of the first team.
"Because the others deserved to be in it more than them. It's that simple," said Martin when asked why Obafemi and Ntcham were omitted from the squad.
"Whoever you are, you have to really earn the right to be in the squad. I love Olivier, he's one of the most talented players we have.
"We had a real chat about it. We were disappointed with his contribution on Wednesday. I wanted the young lads on the bench. It was the hardest call we had, who to leave off the bench.
"He'll be fine. He'll be a brilliant player for us and it's up to him to make sure he comes in on Monday with the right mentality. He's a top professional and he'll be desperate to get back in the squad.
"Michael, we had a chat after the deadline day madness and both decided it was best for him to have the weekend off and that he couldn't contribute in a way that he should have. I'm a young manager and have to learn a lot, I shouldn't have brought him on Wednesday with what was going on, I made the wrong call. But I feel like we made the right call today, and Michael agreed.
"He'll come back in on Monday, we'll have a really good chat and we'll make sure he's in the right frame of mind to contribute. His head has been filled with all sorts of nonsense since we first came back in, so his energy has been a bit different.
"We need to get back to the Michael Obafemi we had from December onwards and I'm sure we will."
Swansea return to action at Birmingham City next Saturday.
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