By Dismas Nuwaine
The Lady Cardinals put three past the Kampala University female football team yesterday in a thrilling evening encounter at UCU’s old pitch. In a dazzling show of foam and finesse, Atimagu Winfred bagged herself a hattrick. This is very first in the ladies football games.
She scored in either half of the game—two in the first half and the other in the second. She currently stands as the top scorer in the 19th edition of Lady’s Football.
“We were able to interrupt the game according to how we have been training. KU is nott as simple team as people may think, as they have very good players, and it was a fair game for us,” said Francis Oketayot, fitness coach for the Lady Cardinals.
With the win, the Cardinals mark their second successive victory after having defeated Kyambogo University 1 goal to 0 in a thrilling encounter. This game was played in the midst of relentless rain that poured unforgivingly on the players.
The fitness coach of the Lady Cardinals, Francis Oketayot, also believes that Rin was a big disruption in their earlier game as it distorted the flow of the football.
“In the morning hours, we did not interrupt the game very well. The rain was pouring relentlessly, and our ball could not move as planned. Now that there was no rain, we were able to do what we know we can pull off with a football.
The Cardinals called all the shots from the start of the game as they controlled possession and dictated the flow of the ball. KU was never closing in, and a few of their starters were brought off injured as they were writhing in pain.
Michael Baryesuubira, the coach for the Kampala University side, believes that the many injuries he has at his desk are the primary cause of these losses.
“We’ve lost to UCU because of fatigue and injuries because, right from the morning game, we have lost about four players to injury,” said Michael.
This is the second time that KU has registered for this competition and has lost to Nkumba University 1–0 in the morning stages of the game. The KU team has to win their remaining games in the group lest they risk being ousted from the competition.
The seasoned coach has not lost all hope for these games and believes his girls still have a chance to make it out of the group to the knockout stages.
“We still have a chance, as we have four games to play. We are going to look at how to change our strategy. We are yet to still play UCU and Nkumba a second time as we play home and away,” said Michael.
