Orlando Pirates first team coach Mandla Ncikazi is delighted with the form of Thembinkosi Lorch since returning from a lengthy injury layoff in December.
Lorch played his first match in four months on December after recovering from a shoulder injury that required surgery after the Bafana Bafana star had a ‘freak accident’ at home.
The 28-year-old came on for the last 20 minutes but it was enough time to give the AmaZulu defence a torrid time. ‘Nyoso’ made his first start two games later against Swallows FC and has started every game since.
Lorch won the DStv Premiership Player of the 2018/2019 season and subsequently became a key player for Bafana – scoring a memorable goal in the 1-0 win over Egypt in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Round of 16.
And the skilful attacker appears to be getting back to the form that saw him crowned the country’s best player, something which has Ncikazi delighted.
“Lorch is a top player and when I arrived here, Lorch was injured [so] I am only seeing him now after the injury. You can see that he is developing and getting better with each game, that is why we are giving him more minutes in each match,” Ncikazi told Soccer Laduma.
“Lorch is a game-decider. Even the training match that we played. Players have so much confidence that the game is played around him. You can see the decisions in the previous match against AmaZulu [he got] two assists and that is Lorch for you. So, we are looking for Lorch for a lot of things to happen around him. He is a top player [there are] a lot of expectations around him.
“The history is behind him. He is one of those special players that every team would love to have and we are expecting a lot from him.”
The Bucs technical staff will be looking for another accomplished performance from their star man when they Algerian outfit JS Saoura in their next match in a CAF Confederations Group Stage fixture on Sunday.
