Darikwa was signed days after he'd played against us in a pre-season friendly for Chesterfield. He got into the side for the opening game in the absence of Matt Lowton due to injury, and with Lowton returning to the squad last week he turned in what was his best performance to date.
It was reflected in both the man of the match vote and the player ratings, both of which he won comfortably.
He polled 60.6% of the man of the match vote. It's his second man of the match this season having previously won the Birmingham vote and the return was the highest we've seen, beating the 59.2% secured by Michael Keane in the win at Bristol City.
Andre Gray was second behind Darikwa and on his home debut. He got an assist with our second goal, playing it from right to left for scorer Matt Taylor, and he scored the third when he closed down a defender about to clear and then got in on goal and shot through both the defender's and the goalkeeper's legs.
He won 18.8% with David Jones and Michael Duff taking third and fourth places. Jones had a 6.1% share with Duff claiming 5.1% of the vote.
We had the same top two in the player ratings. Darikwa had a rating of 8.14 out of 10 with Gray in second place with 7.60. Taylor, who came on as a substitute and had a big effect on the game, was third with 7.07 while Jones took fourth place with a rating of 6.86 out of 10.
This result has won Darikwa the maximum ten points towards the Clarets Mad Player of the Year with Gray winning six points. Jones has received three points while there are two for Taylor and one for Duff.
Adding the points to the table doesn't change first place but it has moved Darikwa within two points of Keane at the top, and he's now 14 points clear of third place, held jointly by Duff and Tom Heaton.
We'll have the result from Tuesday's MK victory tomorrow with last Saturday's result below followed by the current player of the year table.
MAN OF THE MATCH
60.6% - Tendayi Darikwa
18.8% - Andre Gray
6.1% - David Jones
5.1% - Michael Duff
2.5% - Michael Keane
1.8% - Matt Taylor
1.4% - Ben Mee
1.1% - Tom Heaton
0.7% - George Boyd, Michael Kightly & Sam Vokes
0.4% - Scott Arfield
PLAYER RATINGS
8.14 - Tendayi Darikwa
7.60 - Andre Gray
7.07 - Matt Taylor
6.86 - David Jones
6.72 - Tom Heaton
6.66 - Michael Keane
6.33 - Michael Duff
5.86 - Ben Mee
5.48 - Michael Kightly
5.43 - Sam Vokes
5.31 - Scott Arfield
4.66 - George Boyd
CLARETS MAD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
33: Michael Keane
31: Tendayi Darikwa
17: Michael Duff & Tom Heaton
14: Ben Mee
10: Michael Kightly
9: Lukas Jutkiewicz
7: Andre Gray
4: David Jones
3: Scott Arfield & Sam Vokes
2: Matt Taylor & Stephen Ward
1: George Boyd & Rouwen Hennings