Startimes Uganda Premier League halftime report

The last team to provide any such style being Wakiso Giants whose intensity and short passing style under Alex Gitta and later John 'Ayala' Luyinda drew rave reviews until the 2022-2023 first round.

A big turnover of players meant Wakiso could not maintain that momentum in the second round as Vipers who edged out KCCA and SC Villa on the last day going on to win the league last season.

Even the most loyal of Vipers fans cannot claim to have been entertained by coach Alex Isabirye's end justifies the means of approach.

Vipers as a result made the move bringing in Brazilian coach Leonardo Neiva.

KCCA went for Portuguese Sergio Traguil in their pursuit of kawowo while SC Villa returned to Serbia to acquire Dusan Stojanovic.

Of the trio, only Stojanovic has been able to make an impression after asking his team to play out from the back.

Players such as Patrick Kakande, Ronald Ssekiganda, Umar Lutalo, Elvis Ngonde, Hakim Kiwanuka have embraced it to make Villa one of the watchable teams in the league.

KCCA on the other hand turned to Abdallah Mubiru after the tearful  stint of Traguil.

Mubiru, like he has done with Proline and Police in the past, has been entrusted with restoring the club's pride.

He has orchestrated a mini revival winning five of eight games in charge.

Those wins included a 3-2 win over URA in one of the best games of the first round.

In the opposite dugout, Mubiru faced David Obua, a breath of fresh air in the league after being handed his first major coaching job.

The former Cranes captain was quick to point out the importance of local teams to allow players to express themselves.

He has so far returned a mixed report card of three wins and the same number of draws and defeats.

It remains to be seen if URA will exercise patience with him.

Reigning champions Vipers were late to that party before finally landing Livingstone Mbabazi from Arua Hill.

After coaxing fourth and fifth place finishes in his time at Arua, Vipers represents his first major job with a title contending club where just winning, like Alex Isabirye rudely found out, is not sufficient to extend his time in Kitende.

By Elvis Senono

Isabirye gives Red Eagles wings

Alex Isabirye found Bul struggling for cause in 2021 and by the time he left for Vipers mid-last season, the Jinja side had a Uganda Cup, continental experience and were an established top three side. 

Upon arrival at Vipers in March last year, Isabirye - who replaced Brazilian Beto Bianchi - led the Venoms to their first League and Cup double before parting ways at the end of the season.

Unemployed, and with the Red Eagles sacking James Odoch, whose side had won just three in nine matches, an opportunity for some action presented itself to Isabirye. 

Express handed him a one-month contract which would see him handle the remaining six games of the season. 

“They told me they wanted someone to just steady the ship as they looked for a permanent manager. I took it up,” Isabirye told the Score. 

Isabirye’s history of fixing things backed the appointment, and by the end of the first round and his brief contract, which expired on Wednesday, he had over delivered. 

Four wins out of six league matches had lifted Express from a state of despair to promise. 

The Red Eagles now begin the second round next month with renewed purpose.

From their current sixth place on the table with 25 points from 15 matches, Express can launch an ambitious second round if the club administration are up to the task. 

And the one sure way they can show that is to quickly sit down Isabirye and iron out any reservations he might have and then hand him the job permanently.

By Andrew Mwanguhya

Extreme indiscipline

Bul are historically disciplined in handling grievances on and off the pitch. Last season they went about a farcial replay of their Cup game with Villa without a fuss. Some clubs would have protested.

It is almost unheard of Bul to complain over march officiating. But Kitara did join them in fairplay when assistant ref Juma Osire suspiciously disallowed their would-be equaliser at Kitende.

Kitara scored a stoppage time freekick when Osire raised the flag for offside, a call that even he himself could not explain. The fans behind the ref were angry and remonstrated but Kitara players stepped in fast to calm tension, in essence protecting Osire too.

But it was a sad note when assistant ref Fahad Sekayiba was waylaid by hooligans after Express' defeat at Bombo Barracks and beaten to pulp.

The ref body pulled out of officiating all Express games forcing Fufa to suspend the Red Eagles fixtures until the matter was resolved. Express would cooperate with the investigations that lead to the arrest and prosecution of two fans.

By Jacobs Seaman Odongo

Kitende vault broken

In November, 2021, Vipers were beaten 2-0 at home by URA, courtesy of goals from Joachim Ojera and Cromwell Rwothomio.

After that, the Kitende side played 40 home domestic (UPL and the Uganda Cup) matches, winning a massively impressive 33 times with seven stalemates and zero defeats.

In the previous season, Vipers triumphed in 11 league games at St Mary's Stadium, securing three draws and suffering no losses out of the 14 matches.

Last month, Bul beat Vipers 3-2 at St Mary’s Stadium in Kitende, a first home loss in two years.

Nicholas Mwere and Lawrence Tezikya were on target as BUL led the first half 2-0.

In the second half Vipers returned with better venom as Yunus Ssentamu scored a consolation.

However, Bul stretched the lead to 3-1 following a build-up from substitute Alex Kitata who passed the ball to Ibrahim Mugulusi who made no mistake to slot the ball in the back of the net.

Substitute Salim Ekbad scored for Vipers to make it 3-2 with the hope that they would at least pick a point but BUL defended well to pick their vital win.

That result felt like relief for the entire league.

By Ismail Dhakaba Kigongo 

Arua Hill in dire straits

Jst a year ago, Joel Aita lit social media with an audacious claim that he was bidding to buy English Premier League giants Chelsea after it was snatched from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovic.

But last month, Aita, a self-proclaimed moneybag from West Nile, watched Arua Hill suffered the ignominy of failing to travel with a full squad to Masindi where Kitara obliged the hapless overtures by thumping the Kongolo to pulp.

Each of the eight players fielded could have left with a goal against their name in the 7-1 drubbing of a club that only recently sold itself as constructing a futuristic stadium in Arua City but now plays from a rented shamba in Adjumani.

Aita, loud and flamboyant, is hardly heard from anymore. If players screamed in pain when being thumped, for Arua Hill, the screams would be all the fans would hear whenever they step on the pitch to honour their StarTimes Uganda Premier League obligations.

Rooted at the bottom of the 16-team table, Arua Hill is in such dire straits that even relegation might not save them.

For the doomed trip to Masindi, Hadgi Sukuru, Wahab Gaddafi, Reagan Mpande, Musa Ssali and Safi Mansoor were joined by Wycliff Ahumuza and Noah Sabir.

These boys needed a miracle and the team, whose coach Livingston Mbabazi had already fled for dear life, added Nelson Mandela – perhaps in desperate belief that the name would summon the spirits of the South African icon to scare Kitara even if just a bit.

It is as well that Arua Hill were only doing 218km to Masindi. Had it been a daunting 10-hour trip to Mbarara, half of the eight players they had in Masindi could have called for a toilet break and vanished.

Aita is quiet, Mbabazi quit for Vipers, and no one seems to understand what the reported sale of nearly half of the stake in the club for Shs6.5b was all about.

The leopard never loses its spot but the Kongolo are.

By Jacobs Seaman Odongo 

Kitata leads best buys

Like it has been the norm, UPL clubs are known for wholesale changes at the beginning of the season. That wasn't far from it this time with some misses, others average, but there were players who met or bettered their price tags on the pitch.

Bul's acquisition of Alex Kitata on free from neighbours Gaddafi hit the mark. The striker has already equalled his last season tally of eight goals with half the number of games. Kitata has consistently oiled the Bul machine with his goals to perch at the top with a couple of man-of-the-match performances. Express FC and newcomers Nec can also count themselves lucky in the primary window where they purchased Isaac Wagoina and Cromwel Rwothmio, respectively. Wagoina has netted seven goals for the Red Eagles and assisted two while Rwothmio has six to his name.

Rwothmio's former attacking partner at URA, Livin Kabon, also had a chance to disprove his former employers by contributing five goals (including one assist) to his Kitara side that sits third. Together with his new mates, Denis Omedi and Jude Ssemugabi, have contributed 19 of Kitara's 28 goals. Omedi and Ssemugabi, who joined from Booma and Mbarara City, have each scored five and assisted twice for coach Brian Ssenyondo's side.

A number of coaches as well have done quite a commendable job! Coaches Abbey Kikomeko, Ssenyondo and Villa’s Dusan Stojanovic have managed to keep in the top five that has only Maroons' Muhammad Senfuuma as an old boy after the recent departure of Vipers Leo Neiva.

 By Fred Mwambu