Orlando Pirates forward Thembinkosi Lorch has revealed that he was instructed to play in the number nine role by Josef Zinnbauer as a result of their growing injury list.

The 27-year-old bagged his fourth goal of the campaign when he scored the opener during Pirates’ 2-1 victory over Kaizer Chiefs at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

Siphesihle Ndlovu also got his name on the score sheet to guide his side to all three points, while Daniel Cardoso scored a late goal which proved to be a consolation goal.

‘Firstly I’d like to thank the man above for the talent he has given me, I promised that I will honour it,’ Lorch told SuperSport TV after receiving his Man of the Match award.

‘I’ve been playing as a number nine, I’ve been playing as a number nine since the game against Maritzburg [United] so the coach told me I have to play there because we don’t have strikers and I had to do the job.

‘We’ve been practicing it to play the ball on top because we know that defensively they’re slow, so ja that how it [the goal] came.’