Glory and heartache for young Farmer

24 August 2016 - 09:51 By MARC STRYDOM

Supersport United's 19-year-old centre back Denwin Farmer will no doubt be delighted at his Bafana Bafana call-ups for next month's matches against Mauritania and Egypt. Denwin's been spending time with his dad, who is in hospitalBut the call from Bafana boss Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba, comes at an awkward time for the teen, who is expected to miss Supersport's start to the season due to his father being ill.Matsatsantsa CEO Stan Matthews revealed at the club's awards evening on Thursday last week that the signing of Morgan Gould had been partly as cover for the teen defender.Matthews said Farmer would miss Supersport's opening Premier League game of 2016-2017 against Platinum Stars at Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace tonight."Morgan has signed for a season on a short-term contract. We were very straightforward with Morgan that he wasn't a player we were looking to bring in," Matthews said of 33-year-old Gould's signing."Denwin Farmer's dad has been very ill and his mind has been on his dad, and rightly so. Denwin's been spending time with his dad, who is in hospital."We didn't feel it was fair to push him and rush him back as a young player with personal stress in his life."So we felt it prudent to get some centre back cover. And what better player than our former captain? Morgan's won three league titles with us."He made us a handsome profit when we sold him to Chiefs, after he had joined us from Cosmos as a free agent."And we felt there was a mutual benefit there - Morgan was looking for a soft landing as he heads towards the end of his playing days. And we were looking for a stop-gap as cover for that centre back position."He's a great guy in the dressing room who can impart so much experience to Thabo Makhele, Denwin and Antonio Gordinho."He knows he'll be filling a stop-gap role. But as things stand he'll be starting for us against Platinum Stars."Bafana meet Mauritania in their now meaningless final 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Mbombela Stadium on Friday September 2.They face Egypt in the Nelson Mandela Challenge at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday September 6...

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