Vipers Head Coach Alex Isabirye is mute about his side defending the Uganda Premier League title despite a 1-0 home victory over challengers KCCA at the St Mary’s stadium Kitende on Friday under the floodlights.
Captain Milton Karisa’s volley in the 89th minute inspired the Venoms to maximum points to close the gap at the summit.
The win on Friday night moved Vipers to second on the log with 45 points after 23 points.
The Venoms are just a point below leaders SC Villa with two games in hand and level on 45 points with KCCA who have played a game more.
In his post match press conference, Isabirye said that his job is to see that they win games (but not defending the title).
“I don’t want to talk about the trophy, my job here is to make sure that we get three points,” he stated.
The former BUL tactician admitted that he anticipated a tough game but he hadan idea of how to tame KCCA.
“As I told you on Thursday, I knew the game won’t be easy,” admitted the gaffer.
“We all know how KCCA plays, they are very good in the midfield, but they are not good in the final third.
“We knew we shall be chasing the ball in the first half and we were just waiting for the right moment.”
Isabirye lauded his players for following his instructions and he thinks they deserved the three points because they were the better side.
“My team played well in the midfield as we expected and I congratulate my players because they played under instructions, I told them to be patient, so generally we won the game because we were supposed to win.
“They missed only one chance and we missed several so the best team won”.
Isabirye also hit back at KCCA head coach Jackson Mayanja who made ill statement about referee Mashood Ssali.
The KCCA coach blamed referee Mashood after the game, but had talked big before kickoff.
“I think he’s (Mayanja) a football coach not a referee and I don’t expect referee to be perfect 100% because there were some situations where I think we could have won something or a set piece, referees are also human beings”.
“I know the problem came because he (Mayanja) talked a lot before the game, for me I knew very well that football is played on the playground not on the media”.
There was a scuffle in the second half between Goalkeeper Fabian Mutombora and Youngster Torach Rogers after the Custodian hit the defender.
“No, football is like that and seriously that boy (Torach) I think this is his third game, he’s still young that always happens when a player is just starting to play serious games”.
Up Next for Vipers is a long trip to Onduparaka at Greenlight Stadium on Friday 12th before hosting Express on Tuesday 16th.
The Venoms will also travel to BUL at the FUFA Technical Centre Njeru on Saturday 20th and conclude the season at home against Busoga United on Saturday 27th.
“I am happy we’ve won 1-0 but we are just going back to training to see how to go about our next game”.
