Orlando Pirates winger Vincent Pule has revealed that coach Josef Zinnbauer prioritises ‘heart over talent’ when calling on his side to show fighting character.

The Soweto giants have been a side transformed since the German coach arrived in December 2019. Zinnbauer has won five and drawn one of his opening six games, catapulting Pirates up the league standings to fourth.

Pirates continued this fine run over the weekend as Pule popped up late to snatch the winner in the 1-0 victory over AmaZulu.

The match-winner puts their upturn in fortunes down to a change of mentality:

‘The coach wants the heart more than the talent. I think that we’ve showed character [in the last couple of weeks],’ Pule was quoted by IOL.

‘We have to match the efforts of the other teams. When they come here, they want to fight. We don’t have to be complacent and start showing off. But I think that we are on the right track and we’ll continue fighting.

‘In the first round, we were not scoring goals but we were conceding. I think now it is better. We are scoring quicker goals, especially with the chances that we are getting in the first half of the matches,’ Pule added.

‘I think that’s better because we are winning games. In the first half of the season we needed luck and now we are getting the luck and that’s why we are scoring goals and managing to get full points.’