By Denis West
Villa home unbeaten league run since March 2017
Villa 4-1 Onduparaka
Villa 1-0 Bul
Villa 1-1 KCCA
Villa 2-2 Police
Villa 1-0 Vipers
Villa 1-0 URA
Villa 1-0 Soana
Villa 1-0 Mbarara City
Villa 2-0 UPDF
Villa 2-1 KCCA
Villa 1-0 Bright Stars
Villa 1-0 Onduparaka
Villa 1-0 Express
Villa 0-0 Maroons
Villa 3-0 URA
Villa 1-0 Masavu
Villa 1-0 Police
The 1-0 Villa loss to Vipers on Tuesday ended one of the longest unbeaten league runs in Ugandan football history.
Many football fanatics and Villa diehards in particular, were beginning to think the Jogoos would never lose a league home match this season.
Interestingly, Villa had just travelled to Arua and erased Onduparaka’s unbeaten home record in the league at the Green Light stadium – which informally stood at three years.
Villa had lost at Mityana, Namboole and Nakivubo but when they returned to Masaka as their new home base in March last year, they birthed a strong belief they can’t lose a match here and for some good times lived by their conviction.
In their first stint at Masaka Recreation Ground – between 1990 and 1995 – Villa had lost only thrice – to Dairy, Nsambya and KCCA. They started off by thumping Ondupraka 4-1 thanks to a Emma Okwir well taken hattrick and then followed it up with a win over Bul and then a draw with KCCA. If you watched the KCCA draw, you have to admit Villa were just lucky to escape with a draw on that wet afternoon that had Allan okello in imperious form.
The other sides to stretch Villa to the limit were Maroons in the 0-0 draw and Express in the 1-0 win. Yet a steely backline (that had conceded only once this season until Dan Muzeyi Sserunkuma’s strike) and the composure of goalie Sam Kirya remain the fundamental secret reasons behind the Jogoos’ imposing performances at Masaka Recreation Ground.
Get this right, Villa have only conceded five goals in 18 home games which attracts a round of applause to their backline of John Adriko, Musa Mukasa, Joseph Nsubuga, Henry Katongole, Bernard Muwanga and Issa Lumu.
They have scored 24 goals in the same number of matches even when they still possess a blunt attacking force of Alex Benzema Kitatta, Yubu Bogere, Davis Kasirye and George Ssenkaaba that has scored less than 10 goals this season.
The unbeaten run has endeared former Express coach Wasswa Bbosa to Villa fans and obviously laid ground to their title hopes this season after an agonizing 14-year wait.
Ironically, Villa completed this great run without hordes of fans behind them and lost it on the day the highest number fans thronged the dilapidated stadium, constructed in 1956 by Sir Andrew Cohen!
“We had to lose at game at one point but it is the urgency with which we rise up that will matter at the end,” revealed Villa assistant coach Paul Mukatabala after the loss.
After visiting Mbarara City next week, Villa will play again at Masaka against Jinja SSS before hosting Bul, games they consider ‘winnable’. It remains to be seen whether Villa can assemble another home unbeaten run after Vipers halted the first attempt.
