Batte culpable as Bul give Jogoos second Cup boot

There was no joy for Villa striker Batte. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE 

What you need to know:

At the Fufa Technical Center-Njeru on Saturday, the Jogoos' valiant fight was deflated by Ibrahim Nsimbe's 45th minute strike for Bul and to a large extent, the exorbitance of forward Seif Batte who squandered three opportunities.

Given a second bite at the cherry, SC Villa fought with all their might to get past holders Bul at the Stanbic Uganda Cup round of 32, but they couldn't.

At the Fufa Technical Center-Njeru on Saturday, the Jogoos' valiant fight was deflated by Ibrahim Nsimbe's 45th minute strike for Bul and to a large extent, the exorbitance of forward Seif Batte who squandered three opportunities.

With the game at the fever pitch in the first half, nine-time winners Villa initiated an audacious attack down the left flank that saw winger Joseph Kafumbe cross the ball to an unmarked Batte in the opposition box ostensibly to tap home from close range.

As Saidi Keni in Bul's goal and his defenders were resigned to fate, Batte inexplicably missed connecting with the ball leaving his coach Jackson Magera and the fans vexed and awed.

"What hurts me more is that is exactly the same training ground move that we had practiced and Batte had easily scored.

"When I saw Kafumbe setting it up at Njeru, I waited to celebrate only for Batte to agonizingly miss," the crestfallen Villa coach revealed after they had failed to get better of Bul in the rescheduled fixture.

Bul had won on February 17 but die an officiating mistake, Fufa ordered a rematch that they swept away with vigour.

"Batte called me to say he is sorry for letting down the team and missing such a glorious chance. It has now dawned on me that Villa have a bigger scoring scoring crisis to solve henceforth," Magera told Daily Monitor.

He had granted playmaker Travis Mutyaba more time to create assist for forwards Batte and Rogers Kiwanuka but the Jogoos couldn't breakdown a resolute Bul side playing to honour their departing coach Alex Isabirye ( joined rivals Vipers after the match).

Bul's trophy defence will now take them to Arua to play Onduparaka in the round 16 on Wednesday.

Isabirye had armed Bul with a charm and grit to tame perceived domestic heavyweights.He signed out by ejecting Villa in the cup and had subjected them to 1-0 defeat in the league at Njeru in October Last year.

Masaba's moment in the sun

Before kissing good bye to the players, adoring fans and Bul management, Isabirye offered a chance to his ertwhile deputy Simeone Masaba the chance to address the media.

"The boys played according to the plan and wanted to win for the head coach.We hope to build on this going forward and in the next Uganda Cup match against Onduparaka," Masaba revealed.

According to Bul chairman Ronald Barente,the former URA right-back and coach, will from now be tasked with taking on from where Isabirye left - a humongous job to say the least.

Focus turns to UPL

Even when they sit second on the StarTimes Uganda Premier League, four points adrift of leaders KCCA, Magera's boys have struggled with finding the back of the net.

They have scored 16 goals in 17 matches whilst conceding the least number of goals this far -12.

"If things don't change, we are hosting Bul in the league on March 19 in Lira and we can correct our mistakes and perform better.

"Getting proficient strikers is an expensive venture in the transfer market but we will try to address that next season," Magera stressed.

Stanbic Uganda Cup 

Result 

Bul 1-0 SC Villa 

Tuesday fixture 

Vipers vs. Wakiso Giants