Africa-Press – Uganda. There used to be a time at SC Villa when draws were as horrible as defeats – and such was the Jogoos’ utter dominion of Ugandan football.
Yesterday at the Barifa Stadium, Petros Koukouras’ inexperienced side was pleased and relieved to accrue a 2-all draw against a resilient Arua Hill.
Villa drew first blood in the pulsating StarTimes Uganda Premier League encounter, with striker Isaac Ogwang used his instinct to follow up and benefit from Arua Hill goalkeeper Rogers Omedwa’s kiddish error, placing the ball in the net on 35 minutes.
Four minutes later, his partner in crime Saddam Masereka turned Arua Hill left-back Richard Matovu inside-out on the right wing to weigh in a deft cross that Nicholas Kabonge, the smallest man in the box,latched on to give the Jogoos a commanding 2-0 lead in Arua.
Arua Hill coach Livingstone Mbabazi altered the tactics to tame Villa’s passing game by introducing the high balls that favoured his physically endowed players.
Gangly
The tactical shift worked almost instantly, on 42 minutes, striker Robert Eseru headed Geriga Atendere’s looping cross into Alfred Leku’s path, and the gangly forward wasted no time to pull one back for the Kongolo.
It was a back to back frantic affair that put center referee Ali Kaddu under immense pressure and scrutiny.
From the start of the second half, Villa were on the back foot, talisman Travis Mutyaba silenced and custodian and skipper Medi Kibirige’s sloppiness in goal giving Arua Hill hope for an equaliser.
The Arua Hill attacking trio of Samuel Ssekamate, Eseru and Leku pounded the Villa suspect backline that couldn’t rely on offcolour Kibirige.
With no commander and being punished match after match in set-piece situations, Villa defence were once again caught napping when substitute Innocent Media
notched home the equaliser from a well taken a free-kick from Geriga Atendere on 80 minutes.
Villa’s performances lately have raised questions on what happened to their confidence and belief as they have failed to bag points from matches in which they take the initiative.
Fight in on
“It was our effort as a team to earn a point.We had the advantage in our hands and could go back with three points but we settled for a point,” Villa defender Kenneth Ssemakula who scooped the man of the accolade said.
Villa remained 12th on the log, with nine points from nine matches ahead of Saturday’s epic faceoff with early pace setters KCCA in Njeru.
Mbabazi’s side that must have rued the catalogue of missed chances are seventh on the table with 15 points from 10 games as they await UPDF visit over the weekend.
With Villa smoulderingly fading out of the contest picture, the general feeling at the club is that Koukouras is not guilty of all of problems, but should work tooth and nail to arouse the players dwindling self-esteem issues in a bid to turn the tide.
Only fellow stugglers Tooro United (26),Police (14), Gaddafi (14) and Busoga United (15) have shipped in more goals than Villa.
At 13 goals, the Jogoos are tied with UPDF and Wakiso amongst the feeble defences.
Experiments
Koukouras has experimented with Kibirige and Martin Ssenkoto between the sticks to less success while the left-back slot jostled for by rookies Joseph Kafumbe and Fred Agandu, also remains a weak-link for the Jogoos.
Speaking before yesterday’s match, the Greek coach had remarked; “We know what the team needs and we work towards it.
“There is no one who feels more pain than us for all this situation. We spend hours on a daily basis to improve things.
Many players had made a massive progress since the beginning of the year but they also need support of new players.
“Hopefully with the support of the management, the team we can solve most of our problems very soon.”
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