Maroons hope they have turned corner

Mwebaze’s young Maroons side held KCCA yesterday. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • Soccer. Until Tuesday, the Luzira-based Prisons side were the only ones without victory. Okot ended that against Bright Stars

KAMPALA. A hardly pleasant schedule that included Azam Uganda Premier League reigning champions KCCA, Onduparaka, URA and Express is what welcomed Maroons back to the top tier.
From that, coach Asaph Mwebaze’s boys garnered a miserable two points from a possible 12, leaving Maroons at the root of the 16-team table. But that burden of 430 minutes without a goal came to a celebratory end on Tuesday, Felix Okot’s 70th minute strike at Champions Stadium, where hosts Bright Stars had not lost this season, registered Maroons’ first breakthrough of the season.
Victory moved them out of relegation to 12th on five points. “It was a very bad fixture,” a relieved Mwebaze told Daily Monitor, “Very difficult start for us.”
Mwebaze hopes Tuesday’s victory is a sign of better things to come, but they will need even more resolve as they come up an equally desperate SC Villa, who have just been docked two points and as many goals for their part in fan violence away to Vipers, next Wednesday. “This could be the turning point as we are now trying to jell,” said Mwebaze, “We hope that after this fixture we can start putting points on the board. We need to improve on taking our chances in games, and we create many.” The league continues tomorrow with Proline hosting resilient Mbarara City at Star Times Stadium.

Next MAROONS FIXTURE

OCTOBER 18: Maroons vs. SC Villa, Luzira

TOMORROW, 4PM, LIVE ON AZAM
Proline vs. Mbarara City, Lugogo
Saturday, 4pm
Bul vs. KCCA, Jinja, Live Azam
SC Villa vs. UPDF, Masaka Rec.
Police vs. Vipers SC, Namboole
Onduparaka vs. Soana, Greenlight Arua

AZAM UGANDA PREMIER LEAGUE

P W D L F A Pts
SC Vipers 4 3 1 0 4 0 10 Kirinya-Jinja 5 2 2 1 4 3 8 Police 4 2 1 1 6 2 7 Express 5 2 1 2 3 2 7 Onduparaka 4 2 1 1 4 4 7 KCCA 4 1 3 0 5 2 6 Bright Stars 5 1 3 1 4 4 6 BUL 4 1 2 1 3 2 5 Mbarara City 4 1 2 1 2 2 5 URA 5 1 2 2 2 3 5 SC Villa 4 2 1 1 1 2 5
Maroons 5 1 2 2 1 4 5 Proline 4 1 1 2 2 3 4 UPDF 4 1 1 2 3 5 4 Soana 4 1 1 2 2 4 4 Masavu 5 1 0 4 1 7 3 *(Villa lost 2 goals & 2 points from the accumulated standings)

LEAGUE SCORERS SO FAR
Caesar Okhuti 2 Onduparaka
Muzamir Mutyaba 2 KCCA
Norman Ogik 2 Police
Ezekiel Katende 2 UPDF
Nelson Senkatuka 2 Bright Stars
Milton Karisa 2 Vipers SC
Dan Sserunkuma 2 Express