By Yekoyada Saaka
Wakiso Giants sent Mbarara City into the relegation zone following their 3-1 victory over the Ankole Lions at Kyabaggu Stadium on Wednesday.
Samuel Ssenyonjo, Titus Ssematimba and substitute Ivan Bogere scored for Wakiso Giants, while Charles Ssempa got Mbarara their consolation.
The home side was desperate to get back to their winning ways, having lost back-to-back games to URA and Arua Hill in which they humiliatingly conceded nine goals.
They started with power and should have led this game by 3-0 in the opening 30 minutes had it not been for Martin Elungant’s heroics to keep Mbarara City in the contest.
Wakiso, having knocked on Mbarara’s door several times without a response, finally got one in the 20th minute through Sam Ssenyonjo on loan from KCCA who headed in from Joshua Lubwama’s corner kick.
Mbarara City looked disorganised and totally out of place in the entire first half. There was a slight improvement in the second half as they started to create chances and finally got rewarded in the 56th minute when goalkeeper Denis Emukule was found guilty of fouling Henry Kitegenyi, and they were awarded a penalty.
Ssempa from the spot made no mistake and levelled the scores. This goal ignited Mbarara City and started growing in confidence.
With 18 minutes left to play Titus Ssematimba capitalised on the poor defending from Mbarara City and headed home another corner kick from Lubwama to restore their lead.
Ssematimba’s goal killed all the fighting spirit that was left in Mbarara City’s, and Wakiso Giants once again took charge of this game.
Substitute Ivan Bogere secured the points with a stunner of a goal from the centre to finish it 3-1 in favour of the purple sharks.
Wakiso Giants’ head coach Alex Gita was delighted with the performance of his charge recovering from those back-to-back humiliating defeats.
“It was a good performance from the lads. I was impressed with their response to those back-to-back humiliating defeats. We had to find a solution to our defensive problem, and I believe we achieved it,” said Gita.
The victory sends Wakiso Giants to seventh place on the table, with 30 points from 20 games.
