Villa eye 1st round flourish

KAMPALA.

The leaders at the halfway stage of the Azam Uganda Premier League (AUPL) over the past three seasons KCCA (twice) and Vipers have gone on to win the championship.
On Wednesday, SC Villa completed the first part, ensuring they will end the first round of the current campaign as log leaders after maintaining their five-point gap over second placed KCCA with a 2-1 win over Proline. Today they will seek to maintain that lead as the 2017/2018 first round comes to a close with three games on show.
“It is a good omen to end the first round on top but we want to maintain focus. Rememeber this is a team that took three points off us last season,” Villa coach Wasswa Bbosa stated.
Few gave his team a chance but Bbosa working in tandem with Paul Mukatabala, have managed to build a strong unit that is on a six-game winning streak and has conceded five goals the least number in the division.
“The team that I have has problems. I also have pressure to deliver but I recruited my own players that’s why I’m still surviving even in tough conditions,” he explained.
The latest player to step is Mahad Kakooza, one of the players who joined Bbosa from Express and put in a Fortbet man of the match performance in addition to getting his first goal against Proline.
Villa will be playing a Kirinya-Jinja side that narrowly lost to KCCA but will still be without coach Charles Ayieko who is serving the second of his four-game suspension.
The Champions KCCA who are on 26 points face traditional rivals Express but with the latter in deep relegation struggle following their 2-1 defeat to Vipers, their fourth straight loss.
The result left the six-time champions second from bottom with 11 points from 14 games following a run of one win in nine games.

AUPL fixtures today

KCCA vs. Express
StarTimes Stadium-Lugogo (4:00 pm)
Live on Azam TV
Kirinya Jinja vs. SC Villa
Bugembe Stadium-Jinja
Vipers vs. Proline
St Mary’s Stadium-Kitende