Ugandans Clip Vultures' Wings

By Chippa Legodimo
Correspondent | Monday June 16, 2008 00:00

 

The Ugandans have always been a problem to the Vultures and they clearly demonstrated their dominance from the onset.

Despite the visitors' tally, the game was not impressive as both sides lacked cohesion but experience counted for Uganda who have been in the A division for many years while the Vultures have only recently graduated from the B division.

The fewer number of tries clearly demonstrated how both teams were also lacking in terms of skill and pace, especially on the flanks. Uganda, despite winning the match, only mastered two tries while Botswana could only manage one towards the end of the encounter played at the UB Stadium in Gaborone.

Coach Gareth Gilbert admitted at the end of the game that his boys have a mountain to climb in the remaining qualifiers especially when they take on Madagascar in an away encounter next month.

'It will be difficult to get a win away to Madagascar but we will give it our best shot, we can still make it if we all pull together. We were supposed to get a good result here at home to ensure that we had a comfortable result going into the other games,' Gilbert said.

'We were not at our best today but for a first A-match, it is a good result. The Ugandans are big boys who have been in this division for some time. We have only arrived, and their coach is a South African rugby coach and they knew what they were doing. My boys played well against such a big team though we finished losers,' he said.

The Vultures tended to concentrate much on defending instead of going for a kill and their experienced opponents took advantage to force them into conceding set pieces.

'We conceded many free-kicks and they punished us and we never really took the game to them even when we had our chances but I am sure we will improve before our next game,' Gilbert said.

Scores of soccer fans flocked to the UB Stadium to watch the game and even when things did not work for the local lads, they kept on cheering the Vultures, something which Gilbert appreciated. Some fans, who had gone to the nearby National Stadium for the 2010 World Cup/African Nations Cup qualifier between the Zebras and Ivory Coast, trooped to the UB Stadium after the 1-1 draw encounter, to fill the seats and lend their support.

'It was really fantastic seeing the supporters coming in large numbers and even after our loss they are still optimistic and we urge them to continue like that and I believe this will help cheer my boys up because they need this kind of support especially when things are not working for us,' Gilbert said.