League resumes with KCCA, SC Villa locked in title race

The 2023 Uganda Premier League title race is shaping up to be a championship which no team wants to win. Or it would seem that way, reports MARK NAMANYA.

Leaders KCCA, who top the top with 35 points from 16 matches, have not exactly set the season alight despite assuming table leadership.

Second-placed SC Villa have registered significant improvement and after three straight wins are just a point behind Morley Byekwaso’s side. But Villa have played two games more than KCCA. BUL, SC Villa’s conquerors in the Uganda Cup, are enduring a torrid period. In addition to losing their coach Alex Isabirye to Vipers, they have not won a game in their last four league matches.

Stalemates with Blacks Power and UPDF were followed with back-to-back 0-1 defeats to URA and SC Villa leaving BUL, now under Simeon Masaba, six points adrift of the leaders. In addition, BUL have played two games more than KCCA. It is why today’s home clash against Gaddafi is of utmost importance for BUL’s slim hopes of winning the Uganda Premier League.

If they can pick maximum points, the victory would arrest their recent rot and probably go some way in revitalising their confidence. The Isabirye era is over and the Gaddafi showdown will show how fast the team have picked up Masaba’s coaching methods.

Thursday March 30, mid-table Arua Hill play host to relegation-threatened Blacks Power who are running out of time to save themselves from the drop. But their shock 1-0 upset of Wakiso Giants in their previous league match is proof that the Lira-based side will not go down without a fight.

On Friday, March 31, free-falling Onduparaka will want to show that their 2-1 victory over Gaddafi was not a flash in the pan when they visit Wankulukuku to play Express.

On the same day, Nelly Jackson Magera’s SC Villa travel to Jinja to maintain their chase of table leadership. The Jogoos have a tricky clash against Busoga United.

Saturday’s biggest match will witness leaders KCCA aiming to stretch the chasm at the top in a home game with Maroons at the Philip Omondi stadium at Lugogo at 4 pm. The early match of the day sees URA visiting Bright Stars at Kavumba Recreation grounds.