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Heatbroken Lorch blames himself for TKO defeat

Cape Town - The reaction from the Orlando Pirates camp has been somewhat muted since the dramatic ending to their Telkom Knockout campaign in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, which has given players an opportunity to reflect on how it all went so wrong.

Pirates were never in control of the final, which they lost to Baroka FC.

However, they were never totally out of it either. Attacker Thembinkosi Lorch is one of the players who kept the Buccaneers in the contest, with a crucial goal in the 114th minute.

However, his campaign then ended miserably when he missed the final penalty of the shootout. Football is a team game, but Lorch accepts responsibility for what transpired at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

"To be honest I’m heartbroken you know. I feel like I cost the team. The red card killed us," Lorch told SuperSport, following that fixture.

"But I think after the red card we managed to play well. We were not sitting back, we were attacking them and we managed to get the second goal [the two goals]. Unfortunately we lost on penalties," added Lorch.

"It doesn't matter. I could have done better to score a penalty for us to go into sudden death. But it wasn't to be. We worked hard you know to go to the penalties. Credit must go to all the guys, the technical team for believing in us. It was just not our day."

It really isn't the end of the world for Pirates though, as they sit at the summit of the Absa Premiership standings. Granted, Bidvest Wits is just one point behind with two matches in hand.

"I'd like to say to them [the fans] they must keep on supporting us. We still have three cups to play for. We’ll make them happy," said Lorch.

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