Rogers Mato, the scorer of the winner for the Cranes as Uganda defeated Tanzania 1-0 on Tuesday in Dar-es-Salaam to revive their hopes of qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, is still coming to terms with his finest moment for the national team so far.

“It is a dream come true and I can’t express my happiness. My aim was to push my colleague Ismail Mugulusi since he had started the game. I prayed for him and I believed he would win the match for us. God answered my prayers and passed it through me,” the forward stated.

Mato slotted past Tanzania goalkeeper Aisha Manula after he was picked out by Farouk Miya in the 90th minute.

Tanzania will feel hard done by after creating better chances throughout the match, but their finishing betrayed them.

Defender Timothy Awanyi who missed the first leg against Tanzania in Egypt was solid in defence alongside Halid Lwaliwa.

The victory saw Uganda move to third in Group F on four points, tied with Tanzania in 2^nd place. Algeria who beat Niger 1-0 to qualify for the tournament, lead the group with 12 points while Niger is bottom with two.

The victory could have given Cranes coach Milutin Sredojevic a stay of execution with his dismissal from the job reportedly on the cards later this week.

The Serbian said Cranes’ victory shouldn’t be a cause for celebration, but the inspiration to work harder in the coming games.

“It was risky but at the end of the day, we got what we wanted. Thank you, the players, for the work done. It was very bad in Egypt but we managed to pull off a good result in Dar-es-Salaam. We didn’t give up but showed our potential,” he said.

“I believe if we can play at Namboole Stadium in the game against Algeria, we will be able to pick up the result we need and find a way to deal with the away tie against Niger,” noted Micho.