Shafic Kiyaga
Uganda Premier League: Two sides with indifferent starts to the season face off on Tuesday afternoon as BUL Bidco welcome Uganda Revenue Authority FC to Njeru Technical Center in Jinja.
BUL are in blistering form as they are unbeaten in their last four games with the only blemish being a goalless draw against Express and a home loss against Tooro United on match day two. That so far has been their only loss this season.
URA on the other hand are one of the three sides still unbeaten in the league this season but they have drawn four and won just two of their six games.
BUL last won three games consecutively almost a year ago and now they are a game away from repeating that feat.
Peter Onen’s men have profited from a rare pre-season of stability that saw limited transfer activity. They had to change coaches but Onen was already an assistant at the club.
Backed as favourite to become one of the first coaches sacked, The Uganda U17 coach has found a settled XI – naming almost the same side three league games running – and the reward for Bidco is their best ever start to a super division that promises so much.
The 3-0 win over Paidha was as straightforward as super league victories come; Hamis Tibita scored his first goal of the season to continue his impressive form that has seen him score three goals and be directly involved in six goals thus far.
Bidco then then saw off a poor Maroons 2-1 at Luzira, racking up their first second away win under Onen in the process, before sweeping aside Ndejje 4-1 last weekend in their biggest win in the league.
Never before have the Jinja side enjoyed a longer unbeaten streak in the top division, going four matches picking up at least a point and also achieving their biggest goal return in four consecutive games. Onen now looks to become the first BUL coach to go five games without losing.
Winning, breeds confidence, they say, and if the Jinja outfit can make it three from three tomorrow afternoon, then their pre-season objectives may have to be altered slightly.
URA Massive changes
While BUL managed to limit turnover during pre-season, URA on the other hand saw massive changes in playing staff. Even Chief Executive tendered in his resignation weeks to the league kickoff.
Not that a massive number of recruits has proved much of a problem for boss Sam Ssimbwa who kicked off his first season in charge of the tax collectors by going six league games unbeaten. In fact Ssimbwa is still unbeaten at URA since he took over in May this year.
URA, however, have failed to find the back of the net since Ssimbwa took charge registering five goalless draws and scoring just seven goals in the ten league games they have played under the former KCCA and Express FC head coach.
URA have also now drawn three league games back-to-back for the second time this year. But the tax collectors have won just two games this season with both wins coming against newly promoted sides (Paidha and Ndejje University).
The famous 7-2 humbling by KCCA was URA’s last league defeat and will clearly be in the mind for a while yet, but Ssimbwa has made sure his team pushes on and ensures they keep it tight at the back as they have kept seven clean sheets since.
Onen has barely made changes to his starting lineup and he is expected to revert to the same set of players that started against Ndejje and Maroons.
The records do not favour Bul though. They have won only two of their previous 10 encounters with the
taxmen collecting 16 available points –four wins and four draws since their first meeting in the competition in 2013.
Uganda Premier League After Six Games
Vipers 14 points
Bul 13
KCCA 12
Bright Stars 11
Express FC 11
Onduparaka 11
Mbarara City 10
URA 10
Police 7
Ndejje Un. 6
Kirinya JSS 6
Tooro United 5
Nyamityobora 4
Paidha 4
Villa 3
Maroons 2
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