Police-SC Villa to make case for domestic league
Police midfielder Ashraf Mugume has put up a commendable show this season. Photo by Eddie Chicco
KAMPALA- The StarTimes Uganda Premier League, particularly the Kampala-based teams, continue to struggle to attract new fans to stadiums despite increased interest from corporate companies.
While many other reasons have been fronted, the unstructured approach from many of the teams has also greatly contributed to keeping fans away. But as the first round concludes, there should be no shortage of entertainment.
SC Villa and Police are among the few teams in the league whose respective coaches, Douglas Bamweyana and Abdallah Mubiru prefer to win using the possession-based approach.
Both teams come into the game on the back of losses with Police suffering a 6-3 thrashing at the hands of KCCA while Villa created enough chances to win two games but departed Namboole with a 1-0 loss to Bul.
Villa need the points more as they languish just above the bottom three teams despite a decent run of form since Bamweyana took charge at the end of November.
Saturday’s result was the first time the Jogoos lost under Bamweyana in seven competitive games having failed to win in the opening eight.
Joint league leading goal scorer Bashir Mutanda with nine goals, will hope to return to scoring ways having fired blanks on Saturday including side-footing wide from three yards out.
Police under Mubiru on the other hand could jump four places up to fifth with their offensive approach making them the second highest scoring side with 22 goals.
They also often play without a recognized defensive midfielder with Juma Balinya contributing seven goals to the cause while Ashraf Mugume, Simon Mbaziira, Ronald Nyanzi and lately Johnson Odong all getting in among the goals.
At Namboole, KCCA the highest league scorers with 33 goals after 14 games entertain URA whose 11 goals scored have been down more to wastefulness rather than failure to create chances.
