The Red Eagles qualified for the Uganda Cup quarter finals after beating Police 4-1 on penalties at Wankulukuku.

Here are the five things we noticed

We are keeping it tight at the back

Since the appointment of Coach George Ssimwogerere and his team the Red Eagles have played three games and kept 2 clean sheets against Nyamityobora and Police FC. They have only conceded one goal. Against Police the visitors managed only one shot on target after Revita failing to clear his lines and Muwanga came out of his goal to close down Balinya.
Such a defense is capable of getting results because a clean sheet you are at least assured of getting a point.

Muwanga was the man of the hour

The keeper was quite not troubled in the ninety minutes but played well with his defense and was alert when called upon.
The keeper turned the game on his shoulders when we reached the penalty shootout. He faced 3 penalties and only conceded once. Ruben Kimera beat him taking Police’s first penalty but saved from Balinya and Bwogi. After the game in his post match interview the keeper said it’s normal for him to save penalties.

Red Eagles’ well taken penalties

The Red Eagles took four penalties and scored all of them. Birungi took the first penalty and converted, Galiwango came and sent Mutebi the wrong way. Kigonya took the third and placed it well into the roof of the net giving Mutebi no chance what so ever. The man who takes our normal play penalties Odur stepped up to seal the win and did the needful again Mutebi was given no chance despite having a superb 90 minutes.

The fans backed the team well

When the team needed the fans the fans were there to play their role. Even when some mistakes were made in giving away possession the fans encouraged the players to chase and recover possession to rectify the mistakes. After the match Muwanga was lifted in the air in recognition of what he had done in the game. The win meant a lot for all of us. The fans joined the team in celebration.

The fighting spirit.

The Red Eagles exhibited great fighting spirit to stop Police from their usual game plan of short passes and attacking football. Danger-man Jumah Balinya was limited to zero shots on target while Hassan Kalega didn’t manage any of his trademark long range efforts.
After the match the head coach acknowledged that his players stuck to the game plan and fought for each other to deliver the much needed result. Mubaraka Nsubuga started as the center forward and chased every ball up front to keep the Police defense busy. We hope to see more of that in the coming games and it was a great way for coach Sim and his team to make their home debut.

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