URA FC have not had a good start in the league’s second round, making their round-of-32 Uganda Cup fixture against plucky Bul FC another daunting task
URA coach Kefa Kisala is at pains to record a win in the Uganda Premier League. His team’s first two second round ties against JMC Hippos and Onduparaka FC have both ended in two-all draws. This has continued to dent his team’s chances of putting up a sustained challenge for the league title this year.
However, it is in the knock-out Uganda Cup that his team has a chance of bagging some silverware. And if it is not for the pride of the tax-men, whose last silverware was the Uganda Cup triumph in 2014, the coach has his reputation at stake.
Kisala, who is in his second season at URA, appears to have failed to build consistency at the club. URA has continued on a path of draws, recording 12 this season in the 17 league games played. They have scored 22 goals in 17 games and conceded 16; not a beautiful balance sheet.
“We have been conceding easy goals and lost games when we were in winning positions but cannot afford to do that in the Uganda Cup because there is no chance of bouncing back,” Kisala said.
From his experience, Kisala is not oblivious of the fact that three years without any trophy at URA is a bad thing. And that even his job comes for discussion. But at this point in time, his focus is on ensuring that they beat Bul and qualify for the last-16.
Kisala is counting on the never-say-die spirit shown by his players against Onduparaka. URA were 2-0 down and looking gone like a battered fox, oozing out its last bits of saliva, only to pull one back on 82 minutes and a late equalizer on 93 minutes.
But he faces a Bul side that was beaten 3-0 by The Saints in the league last Friday. Bul coach Frank ‘Video’ Anyau called it a bad day. And he does not see it happening again. Instead, a win like the 3-0 Bul subjected to Express FC earlier last week, is the kind of display the former URA coach expects.
That should guarantee a cracker, as should the numerous subplots. A number of Bul players previously played for URA. For example, Bul’s hat-trick hero against Express, Villa Oromchan, left URA in January because he could not get first-team football.
This left some URA club officials unhappy, that a young forward was never given a chance to develop. Kisala could not guarantee Oromchan a starting place because of competition for places at URA.
Tuesday@4pm:
URA v Bul
Mbarara v Onduparaka
Police v The Saints
Sadolin v Agape
Ndejje v JMC
jovi@observer.ug