KCCA turn on style, Bul unrelenting

KCCA won a football match again at Lugogo on Friday but Bul, some hundreds of kilometres away in Fort Portal, refused to cede headlines to the champions.

Hattrick hero Suleiman Mike Mutyaba and teenage hotshot Sadat Anaku owned the show in Kampala but Musa Esenu and Robert Mukongotya ensured their own spectacle in Tooro spoke loudest on log standings.

Bul’s come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Tooro United, the hosts first home defeat stretching from last season, at St Paul’s Seminary Ground saw the table leaders move to 19 points.

Yoffesi Mubiru had given Tooro a first half lead but Esenu and Mukongotya ensured a sixth Bul victory out of eight matches, including the previous 3-0 thrashing of KCCA.

Speaking of KCCA, the Champions recovered from that defeat emphatically, dispatching Onduparaka 4-0 with Mutyaba grabbing a hattrick and Anaku scoring his first league goal for the club.

“Now I’m ready to score even more goals,” the teenager told Sunday Monitor after picking his Pilsner Man of the Match award.

Anaku’s contribution, including a penalty assist for Mutyaba to seal his hattrick, notwithstanding; it is the latter that was indeed the game’s star.

But Mutyaba does not pick this accolade, which is sponsored by a beer company, because of his Muslim faith, thus the award going to the closest best player.

“Even my coaches told me that I should continue doing what am doing and soon I’ll score,” added Anaku.

“The pressure was there but now that is all gone and I’m looking forward to the next game.”

Anaku does a Bergkamp
Anaku’s goal was reminiscent of Arsenal great Dennis Bergkamp’s flick on Newcastle defender Nikos Dabizas in 2002 en route to scoring.

Anaku received a pass from Keziron Kizito with his back to goal, and with Dudu Ramadhan keeping watch - or so he thought.

The striker then flicked it with his right beyond a tumbling Ramadhan as he turned the other way round to slice it with the outside of his left boot past onrushing goalkeeper Yusuf Wasswa for 1-0 on 33 minutes.

Mutyaba then took care of what was left of an insipid Onduparaka in the second half, tapping home on 52 minutes, driving from the left to thump into the top right corner the second on 68, and completing a hattrick from the spot on 76.

What a way to bounce back from defeat, a draw and defeat in the last three! “It’s not a relief for me,” insisted KCCA manager Mike Mutebi, “ It’s business as usual.

“It’s just that we have not been playing well. We’ve just not been scoring.

“The good thing is today our centre forwards all scored. That’s a relief for them. We also had many touches in the final third. A positive!”

Onduparaka assistant coach Sadiq Sempigi said they “had a strategy but after a few good minutes players got excited and opened up for the opponent.”

By press time, victory had moved KCCA six places to seventh on 10 points while Onduparaka remained third on 15.