Orlando Pirates will be delighted to have Thembinkosi Lorch back from injury over the last weeks – he has been the top scorer in the derby over the last 15 years and the Buccaneers will be looking to him to help them in their quest for victory again.
Lorch has had a tough last two seasons with shoulder and knee problems but returned to action two weeks ago as Pirates beat All Stars in the first round of the Nedbank Cup.
Lorch has a total of five derby goals score over the last six seasons and could be a factor again when the Soweto rivals meet at Soccer city on Saturday.
His first goal came in 2018 and he added two more in the 2018-19 campaign and the 2020-21 season. Pirates have won all but one of the games in which he has scored, drawing the other.
Vincent Pule, who will also be in contention to line-up at Soccer City on Saturday, has three derby goals and along with Katlego Mashego is second on the list of the Pirates’ scorers since 2008.
Of a host of Pirates players with two derby goals, only Fortune Makaringe is still with the club.
Chiefs’ top scorers in the last 15 years have all tallied four derby goals – including centre defender Daniel Cardoso. Two of his efforts were converted from the penalty spot.
The other two are Leonard Castro, who left the club at the end of last season, and Simphiwe Tshabalala. Zimbabwe international striker Knowledge Musona, a former Golden Boot winner, has three derby goals.
Derby defences have proven much harder to breach with only two one-sided results over the last 15 years – when Chiefs beat Pirates 3-0 the 2010 Telkom Knockout final and when Pirates beat Chiefs 3-0 in the MTN8 semifinal first leg.
That means the last player to score a hat-trick in the Chiefs v Pirates derby was Jerry Sikhosana, who got three in Pirates’ 4-1 win in November 1996.
Bernard Parker and Tshabalala have played a total of 31 derbies for Chiefs – both with 22 league games, one Nedbank Cup tie, two Telkom Knockout matches and six in the MTN8 against Pirates. Willard Katsande had 29 derby appearances and Itumeleng Khune has had 27.
The 35-year-old Chiefs goalkeeper, however, last kept goal in the derby in October 2018, when Pirates won 2-1.
Happy Jele, who departed Pirates at the end of last season, is their derby appearance record holder over the last 15 years with 28 games against Chiefs. It included a goal in 2011.