Bloemfontein Celtic 1-2 Orlando Pirates: Super-sub Lorch inspires Bucs to 10th MTN8 title
The Bafana Bafana international was the hero for the Buccaneers as he changed the complexion of the game and netted the winning goal
Orlando Pirates showed character as they came back to defeat Bloemfontein Celtic 2-1 in the 2020 MTN8 final which was played at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday evening.
Siwelele opened the scoring for Siphelele Luthuli, but Deon Hotto levelled matters for the Buccaneers, who then grabbed the winning goal through super-sub Thembinkosi Lorch.
Phunya Sele Sele were hoping to stun a much-fancied Bucs side having eliminated Tshwane giants Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United from the competition.
Coach John Maduka named a strong team with Victor Letsoalo and Ndumiso Mabena spearheading the attack, while Lucky Baloyi was deployed in defence.
On the other hand, the Buccaneers were desperate to end their six-year trophy drought having defeated Cape Town City and Kaizer Chiefs in their road to the final.
Coach Josef Zinnbauer’s side was boosted by the return of fit-again Lorch, who named among the substitutes, while Zakhele Lepasa, Vincent Pule and Hotto formed a three-man attack.
Celtic got off to a dream start as they grabbed an early lead in the third minute through Luthuli after Pirates goalkeeper Richard Ofori had finger-tipped Mabena’s powerful free-kick over the crossbar.
The Buccaneers failed to clear the resultant corner-kick as they allowed Mzwanele Luthuli to head the ball to Luthuli, who beat Ofori with an acrobatic effort from close range to make it 1-0 to Celtic.
Pirates then suffered a blow as Thabang Monare went down injured and he was replaced by Lorch. It was a tactical change by Zinnbauer as Fortune Makaringe dropped into midfield where he operated alongside Ben Motshwari.
Lorch’s introduction brought pace to the Bucs attack and they started combining well with Hotto keeping the Siwelele defence busy with clever runs down the left-hand side.
Parity was restored in the 32nd minute when Pule and Hotto combined superbly in the box before the latter fired past Celtic keeper Jackson Mabokgwane from a one-on-one situation to make it 1-1.
The momentum was with Bucs as the half-time break approached and the last chance of the first-half fell for Lepasa, but the 23-year-old striker placed his effort inches wide of the target and score was 1-1 at the interval.
Lorch continued to cause havoc for the Siwelele defence with his blistering pace in the second-half and Bucs were awarded a penalty after the speedy player was fouled in the box by Ronald Pfumbidzai.
Zimbabwe international Pfumbidzai was sent off for denying the Soweto giants an obvious goalscoring opportunity and Celtic were reduced to 10 players.
Lorch then dusted himself down and clinically converted the penalty kick to make it 2-1 to Pirates eight minutes into the second-half – netting his second goal in this season’s competition.
Pirates were happy to allow Celtic to have the ball and they waited for the Free State giants to commit men forward, before Zinnbauer’s side launched quick counter-attacks through the likes of Lorch, Pule and Hotto.
Mabena had a chance to level matters, but the experienced striker took too many touches in the box and the Bucs defence recovered and blocked his shot from close range.
Almost immediately at the other end, Lorch set-up Pule, whose thunderous shot was fantastically finger-tipped over the crossbar by Mabokgwane as the Buccaneers looked to kill off the match.
With the Bucs defence looking solid and compact, Siwelele resorted to long-range shots which were comfortably saved by Ghana international Ofori in the closing stages of the encounter.
Ultimately, the match ended in a 2-1 victory in favour of Pirates and they clinched their 10th MTN8 title and only Kaizer Chiefs have more with 15 trophies.
Celtic suffered their second cup final defeat in 2020 having also lost to Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup final three months ago.
They will face Baroka FC in a league game on Wednesday, while Pirates take on Chippa United on the same day.
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