Mamelodi Sundowns attacker Thembinkosi Lorch has revealed that coach Rulani Mokwena was hard on him leading up to their Nedbank Cup clash against Maritzburg United on Sunday.

Lorch was the hero for Sundowns after netting a brace in their 2-0 win over the Team of Choice, which saw them advance to the quarter-finals of the competition.

The 30-year-old netted his third goal for the Brazilians since joining the club from Orlando Pirates and he looked to have finally settled into his role at the club.

“First of all I’d like to thank the man above you know for the talent that he gave me and I promise that I will honour it,” Lorch told SuperSport TV after the game.

“Ja, I think the coach was hard on me during the week for me not scoring the goals.

“I’m getting into the box but I’m not shooting enough, he was hard on me and I’m happy today I managed to score two goals.”

The Bloemfontein-born winger also opened up about how his hard work during training has been paying off on the field after scoring twice in the Nedbank Cup.

“It’s from training. When Zungu got the ball, I had to be in the half space, he’s got that pass you know, it’s from training,” he added.

“And the second goal it’s a cut-back and it fell to me and I had to finish it.”

Photo by Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix