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Quartet face league-cup balancing act
Blacks Power players laud their fans after the game. PHOTO/FUFA MEDIA
What you need to know:
The draws for the Uganda Cup held midweek threw in some tasking fixtures for the Big League clubs against Uganda Premier League sides. Blacks Power, who eliminated last year’s finalists Nec, and Kataka will face three-time winners Vipers and URA in Kitende and Kampala, respectively.
How Blacks Power and Gaddafi navigate the demands of both the Fufa Big League and Stanbic Uganda Cup competitions will be crucial in determining their push for promotion and pursuit of silverware this season.
The duo currently leading the second division race join Kataka and Kaaro Karungi as some of the best 16 teams remaining in the country’s most prestigious cup competition.
The draws for the Uganda Cup held midweek threw in some tasking fixtures for the Big League clubs against Uganda Premier League sides. Blacks Power, who eliminated last year’s finalists Nec, and Kataka will face three-time winners Vipers and URA in Kitende and Kampala, respectively.
Kaaro Karungi will host UPDF in Ntungamo as Gaddafi test holders Kitara. All the round of 16 fixtures will be played from March 17-21.
Tight schedule
With match days 18 and 19 of the Big League race continuing this and next weekend, the quartet will have to play three matches inside seven days unless Fufa makes adjustments.
Table leaders Blacks Power (31 points) and second-placed Gaddafi (30 points) are separated by just a point after 16 games. Both sides acknowledge the need to balance the boat and stay sharp with a tight race unfolding in the top four.
“The Big League is more difficult than the UPL and they should expect us to come in full swing expecting a big game from us,” Blacks Power coach Bob Obira boasted.
Obira’s side will have ample time to prepare for Vipers as they are not in league action this weekend but Kataka who played Booma in Masindi on Thursday, face Buhimba United in Hoima before their round of 16 clash against URA then head to Lira to face Blacks Power thereafter.
Kataka sit in sixth with 23 points trailing leaders Blacks Power by eight and third-placed Buhimba United by six respectively. With a tight schedule ahead, they must carefully weigh their priorities.
“It’s tough because we have four games inside one week (in ten days) but we have the legs to play those games. While our main objective is promotion, we will put our best foot forward in the cup,” Kataka head coach Godfrey ‘Toldo’ Awachango told Saturday Monitor.
Elsewhere in the Big League this weekend, Busoga host Kigezi Home Boyz in Bugembe with a chance to leap into top six, Ntugasaze entertain Calvary in Mityana Myda host Onduparaka in Bukedea as Booma invite Paidha Black Angels to Masindi.
FUFA BIG LEAGUE
Weekend fixtures
Busoga United vs. Kigezi
Ntugasaze vs. Calvary
Myda vs. Onduparaka
Buhimba vs. Kataka
Booma vs. Paidha
