Vipers target extending perfection at home in tie against Arua Hill

Vipers players warmimg up at St Marys Stadium|Vipers image

FOOTBALL Vipers target extending perfection at home in tie against Arua Hill

Allan Damba • 18:17 - 20.09.2023

The game comes off a hard-fought win against Gadaffi FC on enemy territory, where the Venoms were forced to toil, especially in the second half.

Uganda Premier League champions Vipers SC will be keen to extend their impressive home run domestically when they play host to Arua Hill SC at the St Mary's Stadium, Kitende, on Thursday.

The Venoms, who last suffered a home defeat in November 2021 and have gone 35 games unbeaten, will have to fend off opposition from The Leopards.

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Vipers head coach Leonard Martins Neiva coach Leo Neiva has stressed the team is building a stronger mentality to achieve big in the season.

"We want to create a lot of things during a season, and one of those is obviously mentality, absolutely," Neiva told the club media.

"It's spirit, it's a lot of things, resilience. And yes, we showed a few good signs," Neiva added.

The game comes off a hard-fought win against Gadaffi FC on enemy territory, where the Venoms were forced to toil, especially in the second half.

"We showed very well that in good moments, we are a really good football team; in lesser-good moments, we don't give up so far."

"But it's still early days. We are not stable yet; that's definitely the case; you can see that. But we are on the way."

He added: "We know that we have good footballers, but these good footballers can play bad, like we did in the second half."

"That's how it is. But they are much better; we know that as well. Let's fight through it."

"We all know it: the very good games you win anyway, and when you start winning the lesser-good games, that is a good sign."

In a similar meeting last season at Kitende, Vipers smiled to a narrow 1-0 win, thanks to Milton Karisa's first-half strike.

The only other contest between the two at Kitende ended in Vipers' 3-1 victory in the 2021/22 season, courtesy of Karisa, Yunus Sentamu and Cesar Manzoki.

Vipers will certainly miss the duo of Hillary Mukundane and Fumador Asiwome while goalkeeper Fabien Mutombora and defender Patrick Mbowa return after nursing groin injuries.