Mbarara City FC hope to boost their Uganda Premier League survival hopes with the remaining two games after succumbing to a 3-1 home loss to SC Villa on Wednesday.
SC Villa scored in the second stanza through Charles Lwanga who netted a brace and Andrew Otim while Mbara City got their consolation through Clinton Kamugisha.
The loss moved the Ankole Lions a place down to 13th with two points a place above the red line.
Club President Mwine Mpaka is confident that the club will beat relegation and return stronger next season.
“We are going, to most likely, 80% chances to survive even with current challenges but we hope we can rebuild this team,” noted Mpaka.
The Mbarara City South Member of parliament believes next season will be better and they hope to use this year’s Ankole cup tournament to spot some fresh talents to boost the western side.
“We have very many challenges, mainly sponsorship, we also have a challenge of facilities, our home ground was not in a good condition and we have had our games away in Kamwenge, so we have not had that home advantage. We have also had a main challenge of a coaching department or management team. We lost our coach due to poor performance and we had a challenge of getting a coach mid-season based on our experience. Mbarara city FC; I am the only shareholder. We have several times tried to engage people to support us financially but we have not had sponsorship come through, we do not have enough or stable support to compete with these other teams of which about six get government support as institutional clubs.”
With only two matches left, Mpaka is confident the club will survive relegation.
