Resurgent Police test Vipers domestic unbeaten march
Man Of The Moment. Ndugwa (R) will want to carry on his goal-scoring form against Police in Kitende today. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
KAMPALA. Vipers overcame an early season wobble in which they won only five of their opening 13 games to finish with a 17-game unbeaten run and clinch the league title last season.
That sequence has since improved to 25 games after starting the current campaign with five victories and three draws to keep with sight of early pace setter KCCA and Bright Stars.
That run will come under threat this afternoon when they host Police and one of their former coaches Abdallah Mubiru at the St. Mary’s Stadium in Kitende.
The cops were one of three teams to defeat Vipers last season and arrive for today’s game as one of the in-form sides in the league with a six game unbeaten run that includes four victories.
Former Vipers forward Juma Balinya has largely been responsible for that run scoring five of his goals thus far in that sequence.
They are however expected to be without the pair of Ashraf Mugume and Hassan Kalega who are on loan from the champions. The game on the other hand comes in the middle of Vipers’ continental campaign with the game expected to prepare the Venoms for next weekend’s away trip to CS Constantine in Algeria.
This is after they eliminated Sudanese giants Al- Merreikh courtesy of Abraham Ndugwa’s well taken goal that secured progression on away goals rule after a 2-1 first leg loss.
But they were not at their fluent best particularly when going forward in addition to being wasteful when they managed to fashion out a few chances with Tito Okello and Davis Kasirye wasteful.
“That was today’s strategy. Every game has its strategy,” coach Javier Martinez Espinoza pointed out.
