The Red Eagles were unstoppable yet again as they beat the Purple Sharks at home to extend their winning run in the league
Express FC assistant coach James Odoch has explained the strategy they used to hand Wakiso Giants their first defeat in the Ugandan Premier League in this campaign.
The Red Devils hosted Wakiso at Muteesa II Stadium Wankulukuku on Friday seeking to protect their unbeaten run of eight matches and also end the visitors’ run and they did it in emphatic style as they roared to a 3-0 win.
The win also saw Express set a new club record of going 10 league games unbeaten with forward George Senkaaba, midfielder Charles Musiige, and winger Godfrey Lwesibawa getting the goals.
Despite the win, coach Odoch has revealed they had to use the counter-attack to stop their opponents and explained his unhappiness at the missed chances.
“I have to congratulate the boys for the big win, actually I must admit we have been working for it because we knew heading into the match the team we were coming to play was not an easy one, and you can see it's today [Friday] they suffered their first loss,” Odoch told reporters after the game.
“They gave us a good game, but our strategy was to get them on the break because they are very comfortable at the back and when with the ball so we had to counter them on the break, but still I am not happy with our scoring rate and the way we are missing the chances.
“It is something we keep working on every day in training and we will have to revisit that again and work on our scoring rate, we need to use our chances and score goals because, to be honest, we are creating several chances in a single match but we only manage to convert a few.
“We still have time to go back to the drawing board and rectify that, it is the only challenge we have now.”
On his part, midfielder Charles Musiige was elated to score his first goal for the club this season by stating: “I am so grateful to have scored my first goal, I’ve always been creating but finally got my chance.
“For the team, I am glad we’re now top of the table, something we’ve not achieved in a very long time so I am so happy.”
The Red Eagles went all out at the start and were rewarded six minutes in when Lwesibawa cheekily looped the ball over the visitors’ defence to Erick Kambale on the left who calmly crossed for Senkaaba to tap into an empty net, it was also his sixth of the season.
The opener seemed to have disorganised Wakiso as they couldn’t contain the constant attacks from Express’s midfield, Musiige to be exact, the pacey midfielder caught the entire defence napping when he sprinted from the centre line up until when he slotted home to double the lead.
Coach Wasswa Bbosa’s half-time talk seemed to have spurred the team further because it was business as usual at the restart, Wakiso goalkeeper Samson Kiirya was called upon on several occasions to save the day.
Seven minutes into the second half, Lwesibawa slotted home a free-kick to make it 3-0, the winger now counting four goals and as many assists this season.
The win took the Read Eagles top of the table for the first time in as many years, one point ahead of champions Vipers SC who play against Onduparaka FC in Arua on Saturday.