The Sunday News
Fungai Muderere, Senior Sports Reporter
CASTLE Lager Premier Soccer League leading top goal scorer Clive Augusto has become the latest player to join the South African football bandwagon with the striker having left Chicken Inn for Absa Premiership side Maritzburg United.
The 24-year-old towering forward leaves Gamecocks with 14 goals from 17 games and naturally such scoring prowess comes with interest from South African clubs that are always quick to snatch emerging talent from Zimbabwe.
Chicken Inn’s 2-1 away loss to ZPC Kariba last Saturday happened to be Augusto’s last game for Joey Antipas’ men. He was not part of the Chicken Inn team that was held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Yadah at Luveve Stadium yesterday.
Joey Antipas, the Chicken Inn coach confirmed that Augusto had left for Mzansi. He described the lanky forward’s departure as a blow for his team seeing how Augusto was a source of goals for them.
“Clive is no longer with us, he is gone to Maritzburg (United), so it’s like a big setback but we just have to move on, life goes on without him, we’ve just got to move on and we need to play without him,’’ Antipas said.
Antipas was previously not prepared to release the player saying teams that were interested in Augusto’s services were supposed to chase his signature next season. Asked why they decided to release him in the middle of their league campaign, the coach indicated that there were a number of individuals involved in the player’s move and the striker had become uncomfortable at the Gamecocks so it was best to let him leave.
“When there is a lot of people involved in it and the player is a bit unsettled it’s better for him to move on because he won’t give you 100 percent. One thing I won’t stop a player from moving, it’s good for a player to go and better himself and better his life for his family.”
Maritzburg United is also home to ex-Highlanders and Caps United speedy forward Gabriel Nyoni.
Last month, it was reported that Mzansi’s Golden Arrows, Black Leopards and Maritzburg United had formally written to Chicken Inn asking about the availability of the former Ngezi Platinum striker.
The forward’s fine form has saw him win the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s April and May Player of the Month awards in the process steadily poising himself for the country’s Golden Boot award at the end of the season.
Last month, at the Gamecocks team awards ceremony, Augusto, who joined Chicken Inn from Ngezi Platinum at the beginning of the season, won four Man of the Match awards out of the 13 games that had been played.
Each Man of the Match award, sponsored by Chicken Inn’s partners Zibuko Capital, had prize money of $200. He was also acknowledged by his teammates who voted him the players’ player of the month for April, May and June, winning $3 000 sponsored by Bonvie. He got an additional $2 000 for being voted the Black Shark Player of the Month for April and May.
@FungaiMuderere
