Russell Martin hailed Ben Cabango as one of the best central defenders in the Championship following his match-winner for Swansea City at Watford.
The Welshman has been in sublime form of late and headed home in injury-time as the Swans came from behind to triumph 2-1 against Slaven Bilic's side at Vicarage Road.
And Martin says the 22-year-old's late winner was the perfect reward for his tireless work with the club's set-piece coach Andy Parslow.
READ MORE: Sublime Swansea City player ratings as Cabango, Grimes and Manning phenomenal in Watford win
"I'm so pleased for him. Andy Parslow has a lot of conversations with him. Ben should have had a goal or two before now," said Martin.
"I don't want to put any pressure on him but he's one of the best centre halves at this level with what he does, how far he's come and how much he's improved.
"He's a warrior who has started to develop other traits. He can really play football, he's really brave and if he can add some goals to it, it'll be even better for us."
The Swans dominated from the outset against the Hornets but, after failing to create any clear cut chances, they fell behind to Ismaila Sarr's 34th minute strike.
However, they responded well and levelled through what was Olivier Ntcham's third goal of the season shortly after half-time. And Cabango scored his first goal since the 4-0 success against Cardiff City in April to send the Jack Army into raptures in Hertfordshire.
It was the second time in five days that Swansea had come from behind to win while it was their fourth victory in five matches - a sequence that has seen them climb into the Championship play-off places.
"I'm just so proud of the players for winning the game and showing character to come from behind," added Martin.
"I loved so much about the performance tonight, especially the courage to play. I don't think Steven [Benda] touched the ball until 27 minutes. They were outstanding, the players, so I felt really disappointed that we went 1-0 down.
"The way they bounced back, some scary moments that were a little bit our doing, a couple of big moments from Steven and a couple of brilliant chances for us as well. But to come here and have more shots and to play the way they did after such a big effort on the weekend, I'm so grateful first and foremost.
"The fans certainly played their part, they were incredible. This run of results now is the reward for the belief they've carried on showing when we were having a sticky moment and the hard work they put in when we had a tough start to the season."
Swansea return to action against Sunderland on Saturday afternoon. Kick-off against the Black Cats is at 3pm.
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