But skipper Milton Karisa insists the team can find their grit back in the remaining fixtures before the curtains draw on the first round.
Uganda Premier League champions Vipers SC will be keen on getting back to winning ways when they make a short trip to Wankulukuku to take on Express FC on a Saturday.
The Venoms suffered a 3-2 defeat to BUL FC last time out and have since slipped to third on the table with 24 points, but will fancy a chance to recover their known might.
They take on a team coached by their former head coach Alex Isabirye.
But skipper Milton Karisa insists the team can find their grit back in the remaining fixtures before the curtains draw on the first round.
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The next round of matches will be headlined by seven-time champion Express FC, who will host the wounded six-time winners Vipers SC at the Muteesa II Stadium, Wankulukuku.
“I’m very confident we can bounce back,” Karisa told the club media on Friday.
“Twists and turns are part of anything you do, especially in football. Whatever the aim or the target is, it is not going to go in a linear progression. You have to know that and prepare for that, and the way the team reacted this week in training is incredibly positive, and we want to see that tomorrow," he added
“We are really looking forward to tomorrow to get the game that we want and the result that we want. There are three games left and we have two games to play at the St Mary's Stadium and we’re looking forward to that.”
“Every game is an opportunity to improve as a team and every game has different gifts. Those gifts are what you take, what you learn and how you improve as a team. We have another gift tomorrow, and we have to take it the way we want to."
Meanwhile, the guests hold the lion’s share of victories in this fixture, with ten wins since the 2012/13 season.
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But, in the end, to no one's surprise, the eight Leopards suffered a 7-1 thrashing against the much superior Royals.
Express has only three, while eight matches have ended in shared spoils.
Last season at Wankulukuku, the pair played out a goalless stalemate at Wankulukuku, before the Venoms thrashed their opponents 5-2 in the reverse fixture at St Mary's Stadium, Kitende.