URA vs Vipers: Battle of ultimate nemeses

KAMPALA. Vipers SC will have seen enough this week to know what three days can do to an already beaten man. KCCA endured arguably their worst week since Mike Mutebi took over as manager close to four years ago, being dumped from the Confederation Cup and Stanbic Uganda Cup in just three days.
All the while, Vipers - who are still in the Uganda Cup - watched closely after they themselves were dispatched from the same continental club championship 3-0 on aggregate by Tunisia’s Sfaxien.
Now as the Venoms return to the StarTimes Uganda Premier League (SUPL) chasing two games to go level on matches played with leaders KCCA, they will know that they also stand on a time bomb.
URA at Namboole is the first of those games in hand today, with a home fixture against a tricky Mbarara City two days later waiting.
Win them both and coach Michael Ouma’s Vipers will move to 35 points, one behind KCCA, who do not play until end month.
“It’s important we win at URA because we need to keep the pace with KCCA,” Vipers marksman Daniel Sserunkuma told Daily Monitor yesterday. The dreadlocked forward leads the Venoms scoring charts with seven goals, three behind league’s Lord in SC Villa’s Bashir Miranda.
“They (URA) are so solid in defence,” he admitted, “They defend very well. Hopefully we score first.”
Until meeting KCCA, URA were the only remaining unbeaten team in the 16-club league, and they have conceded the fewest goals at five in 14 matches. But it is upfront where URA, sixth and 15 points behind leaders KCCA, are struggling; scoring only 11 times. Skipper Shafik Kagimu and company will have to be more creative going forward for them to claim only their fifth victory. Their other nine matches were draws.
“We continue fighting hard and soon we shall find a good run,” said the captain.

URA the bosses!
These two sides have a tale of their own. But no one tells it more than URA. This will be the 27th meeting between the two in the league history since 2006, when the Kitende based side joined the top flight division.
In the previous 26 meetings, URA have beaten Vipers 11 times, losing only five and drawing 10. Actually, it took the Venoms six seasons to register a win over the tax collectors during the 2010/2011 league campaign.
Vipers will, however, be encouraged that they won the corresponding fixture at Namboole 1-0 last season but what a task coach Ouma has to repeat the feat!
This will be Ouma’s third league match in charge of Vipers after drawing 0-0 with Bright Stars and beating Onduparaka 3-0.