Vipers bow out of CAF Confederation Cup

Vipers SC succumbed to a demoralising defeat as we visited Tareb Mhiri stadium for a mouth watering Total CAF Confederation Cup clash which ended up being something of a nightmare losing 3-0 on the night and aggregate to bow out of the competition.

There was a frantic feel to the opening exchanges as the Venoms took long to settle infront of a typically atmospheric crowd while the Tunisians looked threatening right from the first whistle with Aymen Harzi clearly unsettling our defence.

After just 9 minutes, Ruud Josef Krol’s side took the lead and it was a wonderful goal, Hamza Jlassi played a one-two with Harzi before releasing Nour Zammouri on the right flank who then crossed to Alaeddine Marzouki whose initial shot Fabien Mutombora saved but buried the rebound.

That early set back continued to unsettle the lads as in the 14th minute Geofrey Wasswa was booked for unsporting behaviour while Dan Sserunkuuma failed to convert a Tito Okello pass around the 20th minute.

It was 2-0 in the 34th minute as Aggrey Madoi was caught napping on the left side of his defence and the resultant cross found umarked Sokari to head home, it was then set to be a long night.

Madoi was replaced by Brian Nkuubi in the 42nd minute and Wasswa moved to left back as a measure to thwart the constant raids from the right frank.

HT: CS Sfaxien 2-0 Vipers

It was a decent start to the second half by the Ugandans and Nkuubi’s link up play with Abraham Ndugwa and Moses Waiswa immediately started to impress however Sfaxien limited the boys to long range efforts without any meaningful results.

With 15 minutes left, Tom Masiko came on for Ndugwa while Firas Chaout who had been cautioned came out for Fabrice Koukou and Ali Muhammad Moncer paved way for Habib Oueslat as the Tunisians maintained their two goal margin.

Midway through the second half, Kingsley Sokari effort was tipped over by Mutombora and a terrific burst through the midfield was mischewed by substitute Oueslat as the game wore on.

As full time approached, both teams made final substitutions as Nour Zamen Zommouri was replaced by Ben Mourad Younes in the 82nd minute and Duncan Sseninde came on for 0kello with 3 minutes left.

As the final minutes approached, it was simply a case of whether Vipers could get a consolation goal to give the scoreline a slightly better look, however, it just widened as Manucho truly put the game to bed with a third goal in added minutes following a scrappy play with numerous playing not doing their job.

The final whistle blew, bringing an end to what had been a good continental exposure for the Venoms and though it was hard to watch, at times, our young team will learn hugely from such tough engagements.

Vipers Starting X1:

• Fabien Mutombora
• Ibrahim Kiyemba
• Aggrey Madoi (Brian Nkuubi)
• Livingstone Mulondo
• Halid Lwaliwa
• Tadeo Lwanga
• Moses Waiswa
• Geoffrey Wasswa
• Tito Okello (Duncan Sseninde)
• Dan Sserunkuuma
• Abraham Ndugwa (Tom Masiko)

Unused subs:

• Derrick Ochan
• Steven Mukwala
• Bashir Asiku