Express, SC Villa clash for respite

New foes, old rivalry. Bbosa (left) will hope his Express can give Koukouras and his Jogoos the baptism of fire at Wankulukuku. PHOTO/EDDIE CHICCO

What you need to know:

  • Express pipped Villa 1-0 at home last season and drew 0-0 in the return leg at Bombo Barracks.

Express and SC Villa have had mixed starts to their Uganda Premier League season.

Reigning league champions Express lost their first two games before recovering to win two and draw one of their subsequent three games.

SC Villa meanwhile started out with a 1-0 win over Police before suffering a 3-1 setback at the hands of Wakiso Giants.

Consequently, the clash between the two traditional rivals will follow the recent trend of playing for pride rather than gauging their title credentials.

Villa go into the game with the more serious challenge of trying to find their footing with Petros Koukouras’ youthful charges exposed by Wakiso.

But a feel good factor appears to have returned to the club after Omar Mandela was confirmed as the club’s new president after the club spent the last three years under interim leadership.

Koukouras has however been away in Greece and returned on Wednesday with his assistant Jackson Magera taking charge. 

The latter remained guarded about his team’s ambition but believes they can still get a positive result.

“We can put up a good performance that can help us get a favourable result if the boys play with belief. Because we have a relatively young team, we are trying to give them as much confidence as we can,” he stated.

Villa expect to have midfielder Ronald Ssekiganda make his first appearance of the season after a long-term injury.

Lwesibawa, Walusimbi boost

Winger Godfrey Lwesibawa has been the missing jigsaw in Wasswa Bbosa’s three-man attack completed by Martin Kizza and Eric Kambale.

Express has hobbled and wallowed through the five league games without Lwesibawa, who got injured in the Caf Champions League engagement against Al Merrikh in September.

He returns at the most opportune moment, against former employers SC Villa – and the sturdy forward issued a warning.

“Knee injuries are troublesome but I’m happy that all that is now in the past, my aim now is to get back into the team and perform even better than last season,” he told the club website.

In his absence, Charles Musiige has carried the flag but without Lwesibawa’s daunting runs that are set to test SC Villa left-back Joseph Kafumbe this afternoon at Wankulukuku.

“We have focused on the derby, we respect Villa but we want to keep our momentum because that’s the only way we can keep climbing the log,” he added.

The champions were seventh before yesterday’s matches with seven points from five matches.

Wasswa Bbosa will also be welcoming back skipper Enoch Walusimbi, a vital cog in defence - capable of playing at the heart of defence and right back. 

Express pipped Villa 1-0 at home last season and drew 0-0 in the return leg at Bombo Barracks.

Today | Live on Sanyuka TV 3pm
Express     vs.    SC Villa (LIVE)
Onduparaka    vs.    Police
URA     vs.    Bul

Head to head 

Last seven meetings
14/04/21    SC Villa    0-0    Express         
19/12/20    Express    1 - 0    SC Villa          
29/01/20     SC Villa    1 - 0    Express         
13/09/19    Express    0- 1    SC Villa          
11/04/19    Express    1 - 1    SC Villa          
14/12/18    SC Villa     2-0     Express         
11/05/18     Express    0-0    SC Villa