This day 9/April/2021 will forever be held in high esteem by all URA FC fans and wellwishers alike as the feeling of relief more than anything overwhelms both the players and the technical team.
This has indeed been the day that the Tax collectors finally break the jinx and register their first-ever win against the Ankole Lions of Mbarara City since their inception into the Uganda Premier League.
This has been just the eighth meetup between the two sides with the seven meetings ending as draws. The most recent of these unprecedented draws was this Tuesday 6/April/2021 at the Arena of Visions in Ndejje.
The URA FC players along with the technical team left the earlier mentioned game in disappointment especially for the fact that their quest for belated impetus never seemed to materialize into anything. Above all, they sought a shift in luck when taking the trip to Kakyeeka Stadium.
In the return leg for this year’s round of 32 in the Stanbic Uganda Cup, Sam Simbwa along with his technical team required a win or any goalscoring draw to progress to the round of 16. No praises for guessing what their focus was.
The gaffer made four changes to the team that started the home game against the same opposition. Katongole Faruku replaced Benjamin Nyakoojo, Ivan Sserubiri for Moses Sseruyidde, Ojera Joackiam for Galiwango Arafat while Ibrahim Dada came on for Cromwell Rwothomio.
The intent was clearly communicated to the players and their adrenaline was pumping high and hard as did their desire to suck some blood. The tax collectors started the game like a house on fire with a couple of half-chances in the 4th and 7th minute.
It didn’t take long before Ibrahim Dada was brought down in the opposition box in the 12th minute for a URA penalty. This was taken by Brian Majwega who missed but found the back of the net off a rebound on the third time of asking.
URA FC would dominate the game as was the case at home (Arena of Visions) last Tuesday. Our dominance saw us get into a good position in the first half-most notably in the 20th minute where team captain Shafik Kagimu saw his effort hit the side of the net in a rather unlucky phenomenon.
The gaffer made an instant substitution at the commencement of the second half that saw Micheal Birungi come on for Joackiam Ojera. The tax collectors would continue to dominate the game.
The closest Mbarara City came to scoring was in the 64th minute with a good effort at goal but our custodian Nafian Aliozi (who was starting just his second game since returning from injury) proved ably equal to it.
That was more or less the story of the match. A delightful day for the team as described by the skipper:
“I would like to thank Allah for the day and the win first, I would also love to thank my teammates and the coaching staff. We knew we needed to do more in this game to earn the qualification and our technical team took charge. They assessed the game and helped us prepare well.”
While addressing our media team, a joyful Sam Ssimbwa had this to say:
“The character of the team was superb, we were determined to get a result and played for that. Mbarara City is a boogy side that always gives us hard time so am glad the players followed the instructions to the latter.”
When asked about our next game, he said:
“We shall prepare for our home game against KCCA FC. I am aware that this game will be harder than that of the first round. We are only 6points ahead of them so we need to put in a shift.”
Our next game will be against KCCA FC at the Arena of Visions in Ndejje. See you there…