UPL results

Mbarara City 0 URA 0

SC Villa 0 Busoga United 1

Express 2 KCCA 2

Mbarara City FC's relegation battle hopes were kept alive as they avoided slipping up against fancied URA in a 0-0 draw at Kakyeka Stadium.

The tax collectors would have inflicted painful revenge on their Stanbic Uganda Cup tormentors with a win to keep them more worried of relegation, but Sam Timbe’s troops failed to convert a couple of clearcut chances.

URA and Mbarara City players vie for the ball

Leading scorer Stephen Mukwala thought he had broken the deadlock with a first-minute looping shot but only to see Jasper Ahebwa clear on the line as goalkeeper Martin Elungat was flatly beaten, to arouse a thunderous cheer from the mammoth crowd that had thronged Kakyeka after the Mbarara City administration opened the games for free entrance.

That marked the best chance of the first half, and in the second half, Mbarara City tactician Sadiq Ssempigi opted for at least a point as his substitution of Bamba Souleyman for Stephen Otieno would tell.

The game would have gone either way in the dying minutes as both teams missed glorious chances, the moments that saw one of the URA officials recite a rosary he was holding firmly in his hands.

First, it was Said Kyeyune that missed from a close range before Mbarara City recovered on the counter only to see David Ojok also fail to utilize the chance when he run alone one goal.

“We wanted the three points but we couldn’t because we missed the chances that would have given us the win even in the dying minutes. But this is a lesson that we shall have to take up and learn how to kill off games as we are now struggling against the drop,” Mbarara City’s Sadiq Ssempigi said.  

URA’s Sam Timbe was reluctant to talk to the media after the game, only out of frustration said, “You go and write what you saw. Were you outside? What do I tell you now, you watched the game, write what you saw,” A seemingly frustrated Timbe remarked.

The draw leaves Mbarara City in the drop zone in 14th position on 17 points while URA too remains 3rd on the table with 35 points.