Kaizer Chiefs defender Patrick Mayo expressed mixed emotions when his name was called out as the winner for the Absa Cup player of the tournament. First Mayo expressed shock and then in jubilation, punched the air to celebrate his feat.

His teammates came round to congratulate him on his way up to the stage where PSL CEO Trevor Phillips and an ABSA representative Happy Ntshingila handed him his award. For his troubles Patrick left the ceremony in his brand new Ford Focus and R40 000 richer. Dubbed the Cup of dreams, for Mayo the title could not be truer.

Having started off the 2005-2006 season kicking his heels on the sidelines, Mayo was one of the players to have benefited when coach Ernst Middendorp rung the changes mid way through the season.

After impressing the coach in training, Mayo had a slow start when in his first couple of games before coming into his own as he helped Chiefs through the early rounds of the tournament. He picked up man-of-the-match awards when the Amakhosi dumped his former team and defending champions SuperSport United out of the Absa Cup. He collected his second award as he put in a brave performance playing through the pain barrier with a broken toe to help Chiefs set up a final with Orlando Pirates.

Speaking after collecting his award Mayo said, “At my age a person feels that he perhaps needs to put in a super human performance to win awards and all I did was what my team needed from me”.

Mayo’s performance against Sundowns was straight out of a Roy of the Rovers comic as he convinced the Chiefs medical staff to allow him to play with a broken toe. “Before the game I was in a lot of pain but I had the desire to play and I knew that if I am going to play with such pain I better make the performance a memorable one,” added the Chiefs defender.

Mayo also heaped praise on his teammates for helping him to walk away with the bounty something he only dreamt about when the competition began “from the beginning we knew we were going to be up against some tough competition. The guys got together and worked hard and fought against many adversities to come through and really it took a team effort for me to win this award and for us to become the Absa Cup Champions”.

Mayo will be in action for the last time this season on Sunday when Chiefs take on the might of Jomo Cosmos in an African Heritage Friendly match at the Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg. The Chiefs defender thereafter has plans to take is family and go on a much-deserved long awaited holiday.