Charles Lwanga's 21st-minute sublime goal was the difference on Saturday at Muteesa II Stadium Wankulukuku as SC Villa completed a league double over bitter rivals Express.

Lwanga capitalised on the laziness of the Express defenders who failed to clear Joseph Kafumbe's cross which landed on his right foot and he emphatically fired it into the back of the net for Villa's opener. 

Express under new head coach Abubaker Mbowa who succeeded Alex Isabirye four days ago were the better side in this opening half but were not clinical enough to trouble SC Villa. 

Isaac Wagoina,  Hussein Ssenoga, and John Asiiimwe all had goal-bound attempts for Express but were comfortably dealt with by Wokorach.

Villa was well aware that victory was to send them to fourth place with two games in hand and cutting the difference between them and leaders Kitara to seven points. 

This made them jealously defend their goal to ensure that they keep their title hopes alive which they managed despite being put under pressure from Express for larger parts of the game.

Villa played this match without three of their key players Patrick Kakande, Arnold Odongo, and Gavin Kizito. 

Kakande is without any doubt Villa's best player so far this campaign but he is with the Uganda Hippos team taking part in the All-Africa Games. 

Kizito and Odongo were both serving a one-match suspension for accumulated yellow cards. 

Express on the other hand also missed the services of Alpha Ssali who is also part of the Hippos team in Ghana. 

At full-time, Villa's head coach Dusan Stojanovic was a satisfied man with the performance of his troops. 

"It was tough in the first half, got more tougher in the closing minutes of the second half but most importantly we held on to get the three points. We missed Patrick and Arnold but the players that came in for them did a good job, I am happy for the performance," said the Serbian tactician.

On Express'side, Mbowa's assistant Suleiman Mutyaba was happy with what they saw from their side and believed that within a short period, the team was going to improve. 

"It is a defeat, we cannot run away from that but as coaches, we are happy with the performance of the team, only five days in on the job. There are still plenty of things to fix but today has given us hope that they will get to the shape we want them to be in a short period," said Mutyaba. 

Express stayed eighth on the table with 29 points from 20 games. 

Away from Wankulukuku, Hussein Mbalangu's NEC continued to enjoy a good start to life in their first season in the top-flight after overcoming Gaddafi 1-0 through Cromwell Rwothomio's goal away in Jinja to move to third place on the table with 34 points. 

At Bombo military barracks, UPDF boosted their relegation survival chances after beating fellow struggling candidates Busoga United by 2-0 thanks to Brian Kalumba and Ezekel Katende's goals. 

On Friday, Kitara and BUL, first and second-placed on the table dropped points in their respective away games against URA and Maroons to remain separated by one point at the top.

Today (Sunday) defending champions Vipers and Wakiso Giants meet at St Mary’s stadium Kitende under the floodlights.