Upl: Vipers complete a league double over Arua Hill SC with a 1-0 win at Barriffa.
Arua Hill SC two games unbeaten run came to an end following a defeat to the venoms at home.
The Kongolos hosted vipers in a game on Tuesday in which it was crucial for both sides to get the maximum points in order to get a top finish in the league.
Vipers came all guns out blazing and took only a minute of the first half to take the lead through Abdul Alwal who put the Venoms ahead.
Vipers Ashraf Mandela took a run to Alwal whose low effort slipped off the Arua Hill shot stopper into the back of the net.
But the host tried pilling pressure for the equaled through Mugalu connect with Eyamu who finds Musamali in the far right to bring in a cross but the ball was intercepted by Vipers defense.
The Kongolos fired from all corners but nothing much yielded going down the half time break.
Mandela Ashraf and Venoms skipper Milton Kariisa were booked for a challenge and aggressiveness respectively at the half hour mark.
The visitors started second half on high gear and had to score a goal through Alwal resulting from a free kick caused by Gibson but was cancelled for offside. While continuing to pile more pressure, Viper’s skipper Karissa was denied a goal when Arua Hill’s left back Native cleared the ball on the line.
However the host thought they had grabbed the equalizer when Innocent Media placed the ball at the back of the net from Ogwang’s cross in the 50 minutes but was also flagged offside.
The host poured more men upfront with Matovu powerful left footed short going over the bar. Within the few minutes, they had the chance to level matters in the 77th minutes but Media’s free header went off target.
Arua Hill coach Livingston Mbabazi had to make a double substitutions bringing in Gaddafi Kacancu and Mpande Reagan for Allan Mugalu and Paul Musamali respectively.
In the 88th minutes, Media tried to curl in the ball from Mulondo ‘s deflected shot but failed to hit the target.
And in the last few minutes of the second half,vipers almost grabbed the second goal of the match through Kariisa’s close range header only to be denied by the cross bar but the host placed a great counter attack only for Viper’s keeper to make a superb save to keep the game in Viper’s favour.
The Viper’s shot stopper Fabian Mutombora was named pilsner man of the match
The 1-0 loss ended the Kongolo’s unbeaten run in their last three Uganda premier league matches and it leaves Vipers to third place on the log only four points adrift of table leader Villa SC who have played more matches than the Venoms while Arua Hill remained in the 5th place respectively.
