Kitara thrash 10-man URA to stretch lead

Thursday results

Kitara 3-0 URA

Busoga United 2-2 Soltilo Bright Stars

In-form Kitara opened a four-point lead at the summit of the StarTimes Uganda Premier League following a 3-0 thrashing of 10-man URA in Masindi on Thursday.

Denis Omedi, Jude Ssemugabi and Pilsner Man of the Match, Kabon Living, scored Kitara’s goals in a match where URA also suffered a sending off of Ivan Ahimbisibwe for a presumed elbow on Paddy Muhumuza.

This was Kitara’s 13th win of the season, the most by any team, and springs them further up by four points to 43.

The Royals, who have won three of their last five league games, have eight matches left to potentially actualize the dream.

At 20 matches played, second-placed BUL – on 39 points – have one game in hand on the leaders, while NEC, who have played the same number of matches as Kitara, are third on 37. 

Fourth-placed Vipers, who have three games in hand on Kitara, are on 35 points.

At Masindi Stadium, the home side went ahead through a rather contentious goal when a break saw Kabon beat the URA backline to lay the ball on for Omedi to open the scoring inside five minutes.

TV replays, however, suggested Omedi was slightly ahead of Kabon but the assistant referee never flagged for offside and Kitara celebrated away.

But if the first was questionable, Kitara’s second needed no defence lawyer.

The visitors conceded a corner and Paul Mucureezi drilled a beautiful ball into the crowded box, where Ssemugabi towered above the rest to head home for 2-0 on 37 minutes.

URA suffered more setback when they lost Ahimbisibwe to a red card on 57 minutes after he was adjudged to have elbowed Kitara’s Muhumuza.

Kitara proceeded with business, anyway, scoring a beauty for the third.

A devastating counterattack saw Najib Yiga release Kabon, who outpaced his markers before beating Rogers Omedwa in URA’s goal in injury time. Three-nil it ended.

Elsewhere, hosts Busoga United came from two goals down to earn a point in a 2-2 draw with Soltilo Bright Stars at the Fufa Technical Centre in Njeru.

Sharif Nsereko and Issa Bugembe gave Bright Stars a 2-0 first half lead but Jeremy Matata and Pilsner Man of the Match, Franco Mugomba, struck back on 53 and 66 minutes to salvage a valuable point.

Busoga, however, remained in the relegation zone on 17 points from 20 matches, while Bright Stars are three places above the drop on 25.