Massive praise for Lorch
ZINNBAUER: FIRST ANNIVERSARY GIFT AS BUCS CAPTURE LUCRATIVE MTN8 Introduction of Thembinkosi Lorch after a long absence changed the course of the game.
Thembinkosi Lorch’s heroics didn’t go unnoticed as midfielder Ben Motswari praised his team-mate for the impact he made on their way to lifting the MTN8 trophy, beating Bloemfontein Celtic 2-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
Lorch was introduced in the first half of the game after replacing the injured Thabang Monare.
The winger made a meaningful contribution, creating a number of chances and scoring Bucs’ second goal of the match from a penalty kick after Deon Hotto had cancelled out an early goal by Celtic’s Sphelele Luthuli.
Lorch had missed Bucs’ last four games heading into the final and Motswari praised his comeback.
“We needed to change our shape after the injury to Thabang. I was supposed to pair up with Fortune Makaringe, knowing how Lorch likes dodging the ball most of the time,” Motswari told SuperSport TV after the match.
“He created so many chances for us and big ups to him. After knee surgery and coming and creating a penalty and scoring, it’s good for him and I applaud him for that.”
Bucs coach Josef Zinnbauer, who joined the club a year ago, a] still believes his team could have got more from the game than what they eventually did.
Even though they were trailing from the early moments of the tie, the German says his charges managed to create a number of goal-scoring chances which they couldn’t score.
But he also went on to applaud Lorch’s impact on the game and the rest of the team.
“We conceded in the second or third minute, but after that we came back into the game more and more. We created a lot of chances, we had opportunities but we couldn’t score. Then we scored, got the structure and we dictated the game. I think if we have so many chances, we have to score more than one, but yeah, it’s football. The opponents had quality in the team with their counter-attack, it was not easy,” said the German-born mentor.
“Lorch was unbelievable in this game, he’s been out for so long. But he came back this week and delivered a top performance. But it wasn’t Lorch alone, it was a team effort.”
The Wafa Wafa silverware comes after a long trophy drought for the Buccaneers, who last won a cup back in 2014.
This was Pirates’ fourth topeight winners medal in the PSL era – they first won it in the 2000/2001 season and back-toback in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.
Looking at the overall competition statistics, Pirates have claimed the top-eight trophy in it’s current format 10 times since inception of the tournament, second only to Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs, who have 15 top-eight titles to their name.