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The growing rivalry between SC Villa and Vipers takes a new twist yet again when the two sides clash at the St. Mary’s Stadium, Kitende in the StarTimes UPL on Wednesday evening.
The two sides share 20 league titles between themselves although the Jogoos have taken the Lion’s share with 16. The Venoms won their fourth last season after the league was ended prematurely due to the coronavirus crisis.
The record will count less when the two sides meet in Kitende with either side looking to return to winning ways after failing to win their last games. Vipers unbeaten run to the season was ended by Mbarara City on Saturday after a 1-0 loss at Kakyeka Stadium, while Villa drew 2-2 with Police in Bombo.
Vipers SC sits third on the log with 27 points from 12 games and victory would see them ascend to the top of the log, surpassing Express FC by two points and level on points with current leaders URA FC, who beat Police FC at Lugogo to reach the summit.
Meanwhile, SC Villa comes into this game in eighth position with 19 points and victory could take them to 22 points, only five below Vipers.
Key changes
As the two sides prepare to meet this season, SC Villa’s Technical team remains the same, under Edward Kaziba and Ibrahim Kirya. On the other end, things have changed a little bit with Fred Kajoba manning the dugout as opposed to last season when they were under Edward Golola.
Goalscorer Bashir Mutanda has since moved on to Mbarara City.
Team News
Vipers SC head coach Fred Kajoba will be boosted by the return of flying left wing-back Disan Galiwango who missed his side’s loss in Mbaràra due to Suspension. Denis Kiggundu and Abraham Ndugwa are still out despite returning to full training with the squad.
For Edward Kaziba, the SC Villa gaffer will still be without Nasser Lukwago (knee), Abdallah Ssekandi (knee) and Benson Muhindo(tibia), but Derrick Ndahiro and Asuman Alishe are expected to be back having sat out the last game due to yellow card accumulation and a red card respectively.
Key Stats – What you need to know
This will be the 31 th league meeting between the two sides. SC Villa has won 7, lost 12 and the rest have been draws.
SC Villa head to Kitende with confidence there, having won their last two league encounters there. They defeated the venoms’ 3-1 in the 2018/19 season before a Bashir Mutanda’s first half header inspired them to a 1-0 win last year.
Ambrose Kirya dribbles past Rahmat Ssenfuka| Courtesy Photo
Vipers seek to maintain their 100% win record at home, having won all the six games played there, with victories over Kitara FC, MYDA FC, Police FC, UPDF FC, BUL FC and Soltilo Bright Stars FC respectively.
SC Villa has had a bad record away from home this season, collecting just one win (against Kyetume), three draws (against BUL FC, Wakiso Giants FC and Busoga United FC) and lost the other two to URA FC and Express FC.
Past 5 meetings at Vipers home
- 2015/16 – Vipers 2-2 SC Villa
- 2016/17 – Vipers 1-2 SC Villa
- 2017/18 – Vipers 1-0 SC Villa
- 2018/19 – Vipers 1-3 SC Villa
- 2019/20 – Vipers 0-1 SC Villa
What the coaches say
“We know they will come with a lot of enthusiasm to face us, but we have the quality and character to get the best out of this game. We hope the boys can rise to the occasion.” Fred Kajoba told the Vipers website.
“The team has recovered very well from the Police game. Luckily, we do not have any fresh injuries nor suspensions. My team is in good shape and has been boosted by the return of key defender Ndahiro. We are very prepared for tomorrow’s fixture.” said Edward Kaziba before adding;
“Last season, we won this exact fixture (away to Vipers) but that does not mean we take things for granted. We are surely building on our good record away to Vipers but we all know football is not static, we will deploy new tactics in order to neutralize new threats,” said a confident Edward Kaziba.
