Former Orlando Pirates midfielder Benedict ‘Tso’ Vilakazi says Thembinkosi Lorch was too his street smart in the incident that saw him win a penalty against Sekhukhune United in the Nedbank Cup final.
The Limpopo side were in the lead at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in injury-time of the first half when Victor Letsoalo was lying on the grass and appeared to have touched the ball with his hand in his own box when Lorch wanted to dribble past him.
Pirates were awarded a penalty which they converted to equalize and went on to win the final 2-1 thanks to a injury-time winner by Terrence Dzvukamanja.
Vilakazi says Ba bina Noko kicked themselves in the foot by not playing to the whistle. Though he questioned fair play from Lorch, Vilakazi still applauded the 29-year-old forward for doing whatever was necessary to help his team win at the end.
“The other thing I’d be worried about with Sekhukhune players is that if the referee didn’t blow the whistle, why do you stop,” Vilakazi said on iDiski TV.
“Yes you are allowed to be frustrated but at the end of the day you need that whistle for you to continue the game. If the whistle wasn’t blown it means the game is still on. Lorch was very smart at that moment. He used tactics from e-kasi and showed them how a penalty is won e-kasi and it worked for him.
“Well done to Pirates, to the technical team and to the boys. It’s always like this where something needs to be done or needs to happen in a game. That’s why it is said you need those smart players where out of nothing something can come out.
“That’s what Lorch did. Well done boy, you have to do that for the team because at the end of the day everyone wants to win. You just need to be smart over your opponent and you were too smart for them.
“They played in your area, you drove them there and they allowed you to go there and you got a penalty. Well done to them”
You can watch Vilakazi’s full analysis of the Nedbank Cup final on iDiski TV’s official YouTube channel.
