Owori strike takes Villa closer to leaders KCCA
Maroons' Deogracious Ojok wheels away after scoring his side's second goal against Arua Hill. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
Since returning from Spanish fourth tier side Velez in February, attacking midfielder Owori has been a revelation at Villa, putting on a man of the match performance against rivals Express and bagging the accolade against Bul.
SC Villa are retracing the path they walked so often for a large part of three decades.
Often, they were part of title races and converted that into 16 diadems. The last of those came in 2004.
You couldn't have picked them to be part of this year's StarTimes Uganda Premier League title sprint.
Their latest victory, another narrow 1-0 result over Bul in Lira on Tuesday, took them within a point of leaders KCCA.
David Owori was the difference, scoring in the 39th minute to take coach Jackson Magera's side to 34 points after 18 matches.
There's still 10 matches to play for the Jogoos but you can't fault them for dreaming big.
This is a side that suffered a two-point deduction at the season start and was thrown in Lira for five matches.
They have beaten UPDF,Maroons, Onduparaka and now Bul at the Akiibua Stadium, only losing to KCCA.
Since returning from Spanish fourth tier side Velez in February, attacking midfielder Owori has been a revelation at Villa, putting on a man of the match performance against rivals Express and bagging the accolade against Bul.
Interestingly, Villa has conceded the second least number of goals -12- only bettered by Vipers five.
Prison warders on cloud nine
Muhammad Ssenfuma's Maroons made easy work of visiting Arua Hill at the Luzira Grounds yesterday to climb sixth on the log with 25 points from 18 matches.
Midfielder Abel Etrude scored as early as the sixth minute after the Kongolo defence failed to deal with winger Solomon Walusimbi's inswinging cross.
Etrude earned the man of the match gong for orchestrating most of the hosts attack against Livingston Mbabazi's dispirited Arua Hill that didn't threated to score at all.
On 73 minutes, the Prison Warders put the final nail into the Kongolo coffin with substitute Isaac Mpagi finishing off a rebound after forward Fred Amaku's initial shot was blocked by Arua Hill goalkeeper Richard Anyama.
Maroons were denied a seemingly genuine goal by centre referee Amon Ainebyona after Amaku was judged by assistant referee Barbra Nayebare to be in an offside position while crossing to Abraham Tusubira to score.
Sanyuka Prime video reviews showed that indeed Amaku was on side.
"The coaches told me to use my second chance to ressurect my career well and I'm happy to be giving my best," Etrude, who returned to Maroons in January after a mixed at Express, revealed.
Arua Hill, undergoing a reported dressing room disharmony, fell to ninth slot with 23 points from 16 matches.
On Wednesay, at the Akii-Bua Stadium, second from bottom Blacks Power, with 12 points, host John Luyinda's Wakiso Giants that seek to return to winning ways after losing to Maroons and Vipers.
StarTimes Uganda Premier League
Results
SC Villa 1-0 Bul
Maroons 2-0 Arua Hill
Wednesday fixture - 4pm
Blacks Power vs. Wakiso Giants, Lira
