Vipers roast Bul
Vipers threatened to pull out of the Stanbic Uganda Cup when Fufa decided to go ahead with the completion of the tournament after cancelling the league season.
With hindsight, perhaps their view point should have been considered.
Among the reasons cited included a failure to assemble a team in time for their semifinal fixture against Police as well as time to train before resuming competitive football after more than two months out.
They finally had their way when the semifinals were postponed to allow the Cranes prepare for their opening two 2022 World Cup qualifiers at the start of the month.
The undermanned Bul will now feel that decision should not have been taken.
Record mauling
Having reached the final with a 1-0 win against a lethargic Express side, the Jinja-based club were embarrassed in the final, losing 8-1 to Vipers who clinched their second ever Uganda Cup title with the biggest scoreline in the tournament’s history.
The Venoms, having had time to appoint a new coach, Brazilian Roberto Oliveira, looked a completely different side from that of last season. Their opponents meanwhile struggled to raise the required numbers to fill the bench having released a sizable number of players when the league season was brought to a halt.
And like was the case in the 2-0 semifinal victory over Police, Vipers – who maintained the majority of their squad from last season – suffocated their opponents forcing them into fouls that created three goal-scoring opportunities in as many minutes to start the game.
One was eventually convered with Livingstone Mulondo heading in one of several Bobosi Byaruhanga’s deliveries to hand Vipers a fourth minute lead.
The game then followed a similar one-way pattern with Yunus Sentamu spitting the most venom with a finals record four goal haul.
The striker scored the first after taking a Paul Willa cutback in his stride to evade a couple of challenges before shooting through goalkeeper Sanon Mulabi’s legs on 25 minutes.
Caesar Manzoki then got in on the act with a brace, tapping in Milton Karisa’s low centre before shooting low past Mulabi for a 4-0 Vipers lead.
Sentamu then returned to goal scoring action three minutes after restart with a volley off fine work from the impressive David Bagoole.
It had already turned into an embarrassing scoreline when Sentamu headed in the sixth for his hat trick before completing his foul goal haul on 67 minutes.
By then goalkeeper Mulabi had left the pitch to be replaced by striker Musa Esenu who also conceded the eigth goal from Karisa’s deflected freekick before substitute Hamis Tibita scored the semblance of consolations.
For Vipers, however, the result seemed like a sign of better things to come.