Vipers SC coach John ‘Ayala’ Luyinda has challenged his players to become more clinical in front of goal as the Venoms seek to recover from a difficult run of results.

Vipers have struggled to turn their chances into goals, with consecutive defeats against Mbarara City and URA FC exposing a weakness that Luyinda believes must be addressed if they are to remain competitive in the Uganda Premier League title race.

Despite the disappointing results, Luyinda insists the team has performed reasonably well in its opening matches but admits their inability to convert opportunities has been costly.

“For the three games so far, we have played well but we aren’t clinical enough with the chances created. We need to learn from this spell and it’s within us to stop this from happening again,” Luyinda said.

The coach acknowledged the difficulty of the URA FC encounter but urged his players to remain focused, insisting there is still enough time to turn their fortunes around.

“It was a tough match, but we need to keep going because there are more games in front of us and we want to do better. Everybody knows what we need to improve,” he added.

Luyinda remains confident that Vipers can climb the league table and finish the campaign among the leading sides, provided they address their shortcomings.

“We need to be up there in the table. We need to learn from this and for sure we are going to be up there at the end of the season,” he stressed.

The Venoms will now turn their attention to their home fixture against Lugazi, hoping to translate their attacking opportunities into goals and get their campaign back on track.

Vipers find themselves in unfamiliar territory, lying eighth on the log with 11 points in eight games.