Four candidates who stood out
It’s time for Phakaaathi’s Player of the Month competition for November, with these four candidates excelling for their respective clubs last month. Vote for your favourite, by following the rules in the competition advert on Page 5 and you could walk away with R350 in airtime. Good luck!
Orlando Pirates winger Thembinkosi Lorch is one of the players who has been very influential in the team’s resurrection, bringing back the happy days at Pirates. The 25-year-old winger has played 15 games so far, getting five goals and two assists. His brilliant display even saw him earning Bafana Bafana call-ups recently. After his loan moves to Cape Town All Stars and Chippa United, Lorch seems to have found his feet at the Buccaneers and has become a fan favourite. The team are desperate for silverware this season and they have already missed out on the MTN8 but have reached the final of the Telkom Knockout where they will face Baroka FC at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday. It will be important for players like Lorch to step up and deliver so that the team can end their four-year trophy drought. The winger was very influential in the team’s road to the final of the TKO in November, scoring twice in the quarterfinals at AmaZulu, and then netting the first goal in their 2-1 victory over Kaizer Chiefs in the semifinals.
KEYWORD: LORCH
Baroka FC had a good run in November – winning all three of their games. They scored five goals and conceded just one. Goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze was a big factor in their run. The 28-year-old Zimbabwean kept a clean sheet in a Telkom Knockout quarterfinal against a marauding Mamelodi Sundowns. He was in his element as he kept Masandawana’s strikers out. He was fantastic again against Bidvest Wits in the semifinals and was key to Baroka making their first final appearance where they are set to meet Orlando Pirates at Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. When Chipezeze joined Baroka from Chicken Inn, he was an unknown and had big boots to fill after the team had released Virgil Vries, but he has proved to be a big find for Bakgaga and plays a pivotal role for the team. In the past five games, Chipezeze has conceded just twice and Baroka have been decent at the back, having conceded 12 in 12 games in the league so far. Only seven teams have conceded less than Bakgaga, who have found safe hands in Chipezeze.
KEYWORD: CHIPEZEZE
New Zealand striker Jeremy Brockie is starting to deliver the goods that Mamelodi Sundowns bought him for when they persuaded him to join them from arch-rivals SuperSport United in January. His nickname is “The Sniper” and he has been living up to that billing as he found his scoring touch last month, ending over a year of misfiring in front of goal. Brockie started in three out of four Masandawana’s games last month and he broke his scoring duck for Pitso Mosimane’s Brazilians in a 3-1 victory over Free State Stars, marking his first start in nine games with a goal. The powerful Kiwi went on to start against Orlando Pirates but was unable to find the back of the net as the Absa Premiership encounter finished in a goalless draw. Brockie returned to scoring ways when Sundowns opened their 2018/19 Caf Champions League campaign in Equatorial Guinea last week against little-known Leones Vegetarianos and won 2-0. Brockie came up with a stunning volley to hand an inform Sundowns the lead and end November on a high.
KEYWORD: BROCKIE
Benni McCarthy’s Cape Town City may have only played two games in the month of November, courtesy of an early exit from the Telkom Knockout, but that was still enough for Ayanda Patosi to show off his star quality. The lively striker grabbed the opening goal for the men from the Mother City as they cantered to a 3-1 win against Black Leopards on November 11, and though he also went on to miss a couple of further chances, he was then involved in the fantastic move that was to end when his team-mate Alan Kateregga thumped home the coastal side’s second goal in the same game. The 26-year-old was at it again , putting away an excellent opener to give McCarthy’s men the lead at Polokwane City on November 27, a 2-1 triumph giving them their third successive league success, though that run ended last weekend in defeat against Owen da Gama’s Highlands Park. Patosi already has four league goals to his credit this season, which has matched the tally he managed in the Absa Premiership in the whole of last season.
KEYWORD: PATOSI