YOU ARE FREE TO LEAVE! Who needs Costa when Golola can steer Vipers to third league crown?

By Denis West

Uganda Premier League, Friday

4:00pm: (Live on Azam TV 1)

Vipers Vs Police – St. Mary’s Stadium, Kitende

4:30pm: Maroons Vs Bright Stars– Luzira Prisons Grounds

It is a poorly kept secret that Edward Golola, in a deputy role, is the actual man running the show at Vipers.

Forget his flashy, eccentric Portuguese boss Miguel Da Costa, now serving a four-match ban, for his animated and exaggerated touchline antics.

This is not to downplay the modest impact Costa has brought at St Mary’s Stadium in Kitende since his big-expectations-laden unveiling in February 2017.

He has, to some extent managed to give the two-time winners a slight global touch of how things should be done and fits the appeal that sponsors Hima Cement, Roofings Limited and DFCU Bank cherish in a Vipers coach – after all he is foreign.

We are talking tactics and formations here and involving a coach whose coaching papers and credentials are still under strict scrutiny would be suicidal.

Truth be told, Costa hasn’t honed Vipers in his native Portuguese eye-catching Iberian football style many would have hoped and it is apparent to all that watch the Venoms in action that the team is still playing in Golola’s counter-attack fashion that he used to win them league titles in 2010 and 2015.

Forgive my French; Costa is like a stooge at Vipers, still riding on the fading benefit of doubt many accorded to him a year and three months ago.

Few showed strong emotions when Costa was slapped with a four-match ban by Fufa rules committee after a violent conduct in Kakindu following the club’s draw with Bul – probably because they knew it was time for the unsung hero (Golola) to come to the fore and do what he does best – win ‘complex’ games.

There is a general belief in the St Mary’s Stadium corridors that Vipers wouldn’t have won the last three matches – against Masavu, KCCA and Proline – had it been the cantankerous and unpredictable Portuguese prowling the touch line.

The Masavu laboured 3-1 win at Kitende first served to show the gulf in class between Golola and Costa.

Dubbed ‘Entebbe Road derby’, the match met the billing as it was held at 1-1 until late in the game when Golola’s tactical ingenuity inspired Vipers to victory with two late goals.

The goals by Tom Masiko, Pius Wangi and Milton Karisa catapulted the Venoms to the top of the Uganda Premier League table and created a two-point gap with second placed Villa.

Next was the mammoth visit by reigning champions KCCA that shook the league with a thrilling 3-2 win for the home side last week.

KCCA had walloped Vipers 3-1 at Lugogo under Costa’s guidance but Golola took him upon himself to inflict the deserved vengeance. His side was better than Mike Mutebi’s KCCA in every aspect of the game. The killer blow was delivered in the physical approach that stopped KCCA’s fulcrum (read Allan Okello) from getting breathing space after Golola employed gritty midfielder Tadeo Lwanga to mark him out of the game.

Lest I forget, his attacking line was as clinical and proficient as any title seeking side’s frontward line should be. Golola had been on top of KCCA in the last seven league meetings and the supremacy on the day came as little surprise to those that follow his career.

Matters were more complex in the recent visit to Proline at Lugogo started on a conceding note before they rallied to win 3-1 and galvanize their summit status with four games left to play.

The million dollar question then arises; why should club owner Lawrence Mulindwa continue dishing out stacks of dollars for Costa’s debatable services when Golola, like he does for schools football giants Kitende, can do it effortlessly at a cheaper price?

Up next for Vipers is a seemingly easy date with wallowing Police at their Kitende fortress this Friday, one you can predict Golola to earn his fourth win from four games. A perfect record it will be.

Vipers other source of success can be traced in the behind-the-scenes pivotal role by Technical Director Eddie Butindo but then again he wouldn’t have hit the ground running hadn’t he been working with his former player (at Miracle FC in the mid 1990s) – Golola.

Both are daring, love giving the youth a chance, have decades-long experience in Uganda football and are man-managers which make their tandem a seamless one at Vipers.

The ball is now in Mulindwa’s coat; to return Golola to the club’s helm or continue paying through the nose for a coach whose absence on the bench can barely be felt.

Vipers vs Police last 8 encounters

17/02/18 Vipers 3 – 1 Police (Uganda Cup)

14/10/17 Police 2 – 1 Vipers

14/04/17 Police 2 – 0 Vipers

23/08/16 Vipers 4 – 0 Police

05/04/16 Police 0 – 0 Vipers

06/11/15 Vipers 1 – 3 Police

01/05/15 Vipers 1 – 0 Police

25/11/14 Police 1 – 2 Vipers

Vipers four remaining games

Police – home

Jinja SSS – away