Erick Kambale came close to opening the scores for the visitors in the 20th minute when he created enough space to connect well to a corner delivered by Godfrey Lwesibawa but he placed the ball agonizingly past the near post on the left.
Express goalkeeper Mathias Muwanga was called into action ten minutes later when his finger-tip save denied Villa’s Ronald Ssekiganda and at the opposite end, Saidi Kenyi also came through for the hosts with a similar save to deny Charles Musiige five minutes to the break.
After the resumption, Express knew they had to keep piling more pressure on their opponents, especially on the flanks, and winger Martin Kizza tried on several occasions to penetrate the Villa defence but fell short.