STARTIMES UGANDA PREMIER LEAGUE
February 26, 2020 | St Mary’s Stadium Kitende
Vipers 5-0 Maroons
(45’ Allan Kayiwa, 50’ Brian Nkuubi, 63’ Milton Karisa, 75’ Paul Mucureezi, 78’ Abraham Ndugwa)
Man Of The Match: Brian Nkuubi
Neither Vipers Sports Club nor their opponents of the day Maroons Football Club could have envisaged the events that happened on this particular StarTimes Uganda Premier League (SUPL) Match Day.
With the title race reaching its final bend, Vipers were eager to keep an arm’s length over the lurking chasing pack.
Staying four clear
Coach Fred Kajoba’s men didn’t just get victory, they did cross the finish line in authoritative fashion with a massive 5-0 victory over Maroons at St.Mary’s Stadium, Kitende to ascend to 53 points and forthwith stay four points clear.
Closest challengers KCCA stayed second with 49 points after gritting their teeth for a 1-0 win over another Force side – Police at StarTimes Stadium, Lugogo.
But Vipers will take a break until the new month when they travel to the Kabaka Kyabaggu Stadium, Wakisha for a date against Wakiso Giants with a smile on their faces because fate is our hands and another five wins from the remaining six matches will be enough to give us our fourth league title.
Goals avalanche
Allan Kayiwa opened the scoring in stoppage time of the first stanza after returning Milton Karisa set-him up after the fast break. Brian Nkuubi, who was adjudged Man of the Match, doubled the lead after restart with a diving header, before he assisted Karisa for his first goal since returning to the club.
Then new-boy-in-the-hood Paul Mucureezi came off the bench to put the tie well beyond ‘sorry’ Maroons’ reach off an Aziz Kayondo cross 15 minutes from time.
Abraham Ndugwa completed the rout with his first touch after replacing Kayiwa in the 78th minute to send a clear statement of our intent to reign supreme this season.
Love in the air
At the final whistle as the Vipers players did a lap of honour to acknowledge applause from their fans after the ruthless show, something strange happened.
The DJ switched from celebratory music to Ugandan session David Lutalo’s swooning ballads. With the Venoms converged in the middle of the pitch and club mascot Kamodo running traffic at that moment, it turned out that Mucureezi was going down on one knee and proposing to his girlfriend Esther Khainga Swabale.
It was all lovey-dovey as Swabale blushed and accepted the engagement ring. Mucureezi later confirmed that he had also dedicated his goal to Esther and hinted that both could walk down aisle later this year.
Mucureezi’s style of proposing was unique and arguably the first of its kind seen in Uganda and Vipers, too, have to match his bravery to stave off the remaining opposition and bag the coveted title.
Vipers Starting XI
Fabien Mutombora, Innocent Wafula, Aziz Kayondo, Geoffrey Wasswa, Bashir Asiku, Siraje Ssentamu, Brian Nkuubi, Karim Watambala, Milton Karisa (65’ Paul Mucureezi), Fahad Bayo (83’ Dan Sserunkuma), Allan Kayiwa (76’ Abraham Ndugwa).
Copyright 2020 Vipers Sports Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.viperssc.co.ug as the source.