Riverhounds looking to bounce back from disappointing loss in regular season finale
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The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are coming off one of their most disappointing losses of the season.
A win last Saturday against Hartford Athletic, a team the Hounds had beaten twice already this season, would’ve allowed Pittsburgh to lock up the No. 1 spot in Group F and secure home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Instead, the black and gold will now need a little help to do so.
The Riverhounds (10-4-1) were one of the first teams to secure a playoff berth, but after their 1-0 loss to Hartford, they now need their Group F opponent to lose Sunday against New York Red Bulls II. If they do, Pittsburgh takes the top spot in the group.
“Looking back on the game, I feel like there was more we could’ve potentially done to at least get a draw out of that game, which would’ve put us in a better position,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said during a Zoom call with media Wednesday. “But we have to acknowledge that and move on. It was a big game and we came up short, so hopefully we can learn our lesson like we did from some situations earlier in the year.”
Hartford came close to dropping a matchup against Philadelphia Union II on Wednesday until Danny Barrera scored one of the season’s most unique goals in the 90th minute that allowed Philly to escape with a 3-2 victory.
Hartford will still have to get a full three points against New York, a team it has beaten three times this season already, to win the group.
The Riverhounds still need to come away with a win of their own at 7 p.m. Saturday when they host Philadelphia at Highmark Stadium in their regular season finale. Hartford Athletic leads the group by one point over the Riverhounds.
The Hounds have beaten Philadelphia twice this season by a combined score of 10-0. But Lilley is hoping that his team can use Saturday’s match to build momentum heading into the playoffs.
“Looking at the big picture, we’ve grown a lot, and we’ve bounced back from some tough spots earlier in the year, and we need to do that again,” Lilley said. “We’ve given up one goal in our last six games, so we have to get back to scoring some goals and continuing to defend well, and we’ll be able to hopefully build some momentum that will help us going into the playoffs.”
The Riverhounds have lost four games this year — two to Indy Eleven, one to New York Red Bulls II and most recently to Hartford Athletic. Other than their back-to-back losses July 22 and 26, Pittsburgh has been able to rebound each time. This matchup will be no different, and Lilley is already seeing his squad come through.
“I thought they might’ve had a little bit more of a hangover, but I think they’ve come through it a little bit (angry), but with an understanding that we have more games to play and we are a better team than what we showed,” Lilley said. “I’m happy to see that they are putting it behind them because it can’t be a hangover.”
Some of the positive news out of Saturday’s matchup with Hartford Athletic was that captain Kenardo Forbes returned from a quad/hip injury that he suffered earlier this year. The USL Championship all-time assists leader came on in the 67th minute and played mostly on the back line.
He distributed balls into the attacking third, set up forwards and midfielders on runs and did what he is known for. Lilley was happy to see him back on the pitch and is looking forward to how he responds heading into this weekend, but wouldn’t say whether he would be in the starting lineup or not.
“He was able to get the ball in some good areas where we were getting service, and he was probing and doing some of the things he does that helped us create a few chances,” Lilley said. “So, hopefully he’ll bring more of that moving forward and will keep himself healthy this weekend regardless of what role he plays in the game.”