Arua Hill SC received a first-half baptism of fire from Busoga United as they fell 4-1 at their backyard, the Barifa Stadium, on Tuesday in the Uganda Premier League.
While the score-line was humiliating, conceding three goals in as many minutes at the stroke of halftime was even more hideous against the survival-seeking Busoga.
The general show in front of their fans left the faithful disgruntled, with the deputy head coach Ahmed Borini having to apologize and taking up the blame.
“It’s too shameful. Honestly, it’s very, very shameful to talk about it,” he said to the press following the thrashing.
“We can’t lose like this at home; it’s so shameful. But all in all, it has happened, and we have nothing to do about it,” Borini added.
Busoga netted through Laban Tibita, who supplemented a quick-fire Bashamu Mugwa hat-trick, with all goals coming in the opening 45 minutes. Skipper Rashid Toha had the hosts’ consolation.
“When the result is like that, the technical team is responsible, and we carry the blame,” Borini apologetically noted.
“On behalf of the technical team, we carry the blame, but we have to go back, sit and work hard to change things in the face of our fans.”
Borini, however, wants the players to take part of the blame as they undermined and underestimated the opponent.
“I remember telling you it’s one of the hardest games because if you look at it, there was slight undermining from the players; we have been warning them the whole week about what this game presented.”
The result had the Leopards slip from fourth to fifth, but they hope to make amends in their next assignment against Soltilo Bright Stars at Kavumba on May 23.
Meanwhile, Busoga stayed 12th on the 15-team log and 27 points. However, they are four clear of relegation. They will host KCCA FC in their final home game next Tuesday.