Thembinkosi Lorch Shines After Man of the Match Performance Against Maritzburg United in DStv Premiership

• Thembinkosi Lorch turned things around for Orlando Pirates after their defeat in the CAF Confederation Cup
• Orlando Pirates beat Maritzburg United 4-1 as Thembinkosi Lorch scored 1 and set up the other 3 goals for his team
• Thembinkosi Lorch was named man of the match in the Confederation Cup final and repeated the feat in the league as well

It’s been a complete 180 for Thembinkosi Lorch.

The Orlando Pirates star has gone from the lowest of the lows last week to stealing the show last night.

Lorch produced a magnificent Man of the Match display against Maritzburg United, scoring one goal and providing the assists for the other three. Social media has since been aabuzz

Lorch opened the scoring for the Buccaneers with a beautifully curled effort from just inside the 18-yard area.

He then set up Kwame Peprah, Deon Hotto and Kabelo Dlamini for their goals.

Amazing! List of the best right-footed players in the football world

Football

Speaking after the game, the Pirates star touched on the Buccaneers push for a CAF qualification spot, iDiski Times reported.

“We need to push, there’s nothing we can do, we need to push and get maximum points, which we got today. So the focus is the next game in KZN [against Royal AM] it’s going to be a tough game which we need to prepare well for.

Pirates need to beat Royal AM and SuperSport United to beat Cape Town City to second place in the league standings.

Lorch’s performance comes on the back of a disappointing CAF Confederation Cup final in which he scored Pirates’ equalizer in extra time but went on to have his penalty saved in the shootout. His penalty would cost Pirates the game and the trophy.

The player did win the Man of the Match trophy in that game as well and has now followed it up with another man of the match outing.

Revealed! The top 10 most skilled footballers in the world right now

Football

Orlando Pirates keeps hope alive of finishing second in DStv Premiership with win over Maritzburg United

Orlando Pirates got over the disappointment of losing in the CAF Confederations Cup final last Friday against RS Berkane in Uyo, Nigeria rather convincingly.

The Buccaneers were almost perfect in a thumping 4-1 victory over Maritzburg United in an overdue DStv Premiership match at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday night.

Thembinkosi Lorch scored one goal and assisted for three others (Kwame Peprah, Deon Kavendji and Kabelo Dlamini), while Friday Samu pulled one back for the hapless People's Team in the high scoring encounter.

CAF Confederations Cup final: Orlando Pirates chokes again as RS Berkane hold nerve to take trophy home

Pirates were clearly the better team at the beginning of the match, looking to impose themselves on their opponents as they looked to overwhelm the Moroccans.

Berkane pounced on Pirates’ lack of opportunism when they opened the scoring in the 96th minute via a VAR-awarded penalty.

It proved to set up a frenetic ending of the game and Thembinkosi Lorch netted a fortuitous goal in the 117th minute to send the game to penalties, much to the delight of the supporters.