Vipers SC beat Gaddafi FC in opening Pre-season friendly

Pre-season Friendly

Gaddafi FC 0-2 Vipers SC

Vipers’ pre-season work stepped up a notch in the Jinja City sunshine on Saturday afternoon as 16 players got their first minutes of the summer in a friendly against Gaddafi FC.

The Venoms have been training under the watchful eye of Roberto Oliveira Gonçalves for the past two weeks at our St Mary’s Stadium base, with the likes of Ibrahim Orit, Richard Basangwa and Milton Karisa having reported back this week following their engagement with the national team.

Our latest exertion saw newly-promoted Fufa Big League opposition invite us to Jinja for a training match, in which Robertinho fielded one team throughout the game in which he made five changes in the second half in order to spread some minutes around the squad.

Paul Mucureezi and Orit both tried their luck in the very early stages, while Cesar Manzoki had an effort charged down after being set up by Bobosi Byaruhanga.

We were looking bright in possession, as Mucureezi hit a freekick outside the box with a loop but it was thwarted away as we pressed for the opening goal.

We were making all of the running, as you expect but we could not capitalise on our pressure until Karim Watambala was replaced by David Bagoole in the 24th minute. More was needed, and just 10 minutes after his introduction, we broke the deadlock. Manzoki headed the ball in the right direction, Bagoole controlled it with his right foot before crashing home with his left.

Basangwa fed Bagoole in the inside right position, and slick midfielder showed all the confidence to hit the ball into the lower corner for his second.

We had no intention of sitting back on the lead though. Basangwa came within inches of scoring when he controlled Bobosi’s pass, then smashed a powerful shot that the Gaddafi goalkeeper punched away.

With our Uganda Cup semifinal match against Police FC now one week away, Robertinho will hope to step up preparations in the days to come. More Pre-season friendlies are planned in the coming weeks.