Vipers’ coach Alex Isabirye picked positives from his side’s one-all draw with Morocco giants Raja Casablanca in the CAF Champions League match played on Saturday, March 18.
Vipers are already out of the competition but Isabirye, who recently replaced Brazilian Beto Bianchi, was pleased with his players’ performance before the home crowd at the St Mary’s stadium, Kitende.
“I’m happy not only because of the fact that we scored our first goal at this stage of the competition but also the players showed great improvement in their character on the pitch,” Isabirye told the club website in the post-match interview on Saturday night.
Nigerian import Abubakar Lawal scored the equalizer for Vipers after Soufiane Benjdida gave Raja Casablanca the lead in a closely-contested match.
Despite the draw, Vipers remain bottom of Group C with just two points from five matches. Group leaders, Raja Casablanca, with 13 points and second-placed Simba SC of Tanzania (on nine points from five games) have already qualified for the quarterfinals. Horoya AC of Guinea Conakry have four points in third place.
Vipers have had a disastrous debut in the lucrative CAF Champions League group stage. The Venoms lost 0-5 to Raja Casablanca, drew 0-0 with Horoya AC followed by the back-to-back (0-1) defeats to Simba, which lead to the sacking of Bianchi just after two months on the job.
Isabirye guided Vipers to a 4-3 penalty win over Wakiso Giants in the Uganda Cup game on his debut on March 14. He will see out the disastrous CAF Champions League campaign with the final Group C game against Horoya scheduled for March 31 in Conakry.
However, Isabirye’s major task at hand is to defend the StarTimes Uganda Premier League title and add the Uganda Cup trophy this season.
CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS: Vipers 1 Raja Casablanca 1; Simba 7 Horoya AC 0