Riverhounds top Philadelphia to get back in win column
Share this post:
Saturday night was the perfect opportunity for the Riverhounds to break their two-game skid, and although it wasn’t their best performance they took full advantage.
Behind two first-half goals from Steevan Dos Santos, in his first start of the season, the Riverhounds stomped Philadelphia Union II, 4-0, for their third win of the season and second over their Keystone State rival.
“It feels very good, when you lose two in a row, that’s not very familiar for this team,” Riverhounds captain Kenardo Forbes said. “But, it happens and it feels good to get a win. We didn’t play our best today, but we just need to move on to next week and work harder and try to get better.”
After tallying two assists during the game, Forbes became the USL Championship all-time assists leader Saturday. The Kingston, Jamaica native passed Maikel Chang’s record of 37 career assists when he delivered a corner kick to the back post for a Thomas Vancaeyezeele header in the 36th minute. He had tied the record earlier in the game when he broke free down the right sideline and delivered a cross into the box for Dos Santos’s first goal of the game.
“He’s a very good player for this team but also for this league,” Pittsburgh coach Bob Lilley said about Forbes and his performance throughout his career. “He’s been on a lot of winning teams, and he generally is making all those around him better. So, it’s not surprising that he’s been able to put people in better positions, and I think he’s been getting better and better every year in terms of his final ball. So I’m happy that he has (the record).”
After the Riverhounds played a solid first half, controlling 65.7% of the possession and notching four shots on target compared to Philadelphia’s zero, the young team from the eastern side of the state responded.
They recorded eight shots in the second half and three of them were on target as they took control of the game. Although Philadelphia didn’t score, Lilley was disappointed with the way his team played throughout and said he needs to see his team improve before their match with New York Red Bulls next week.
“I don’t think we played particularly well. I mean it’s nice to get the three points, but we had three pretty good performances but the last two, for me, haven’t been good enough,” Lilley said. “We’re getting played through far too easy, we’re losing the ball in the middle of the park, teams are running through us, we’re not winning second balls and I don’t think we’re working hard enough.”
Over the past two weeks, the Riverhounds have been battling through a slump, losing two tight games in extra time. They also haven’t performed well in certain areas of the field. As Lilley said, their back line has allowed too many runs in behind, they weren’t patient with the ball in the offensive end and they were coming up short in areas where Lilley thought they could excel.
In a shortened season, all of that can hurt a team looking to make a playoff push when the season comes to a close. In order to change that, Lilley wants to see his team improve each game.
“At the end of the day we can’t measure ourselves against Philadelphia; they aren’t the bar right now,” Lilley said. “Our level is the bar that we need to get to to see what our best level is, so we have a better opportunity no matter who we play.”
In the 65th minute, Forbes sent in another corner kick to the back post and Anthony Velarde volleyed the cross to the middle of the box. Ryan James was ready and waiting in the middle of the box and finished off the sequence with a volley to the left side of the net to finished off the scoring.
The Riverhounds will be at home again next Saturday when they take on the New York Red Bulls II at 7 p.m. at Highmark Stadium.