Hounds defeat Louisville City on a lone PK
Bee Gees all day every day.
It wasn’t a very pretty game but the Hounds rolled into Louisville and did what they needed to do for three points as they continue to hold on to the last playoff spot. For being the two highest scoring teams in the league, each match up this year has been defensive slugfests. Both sides know how potent the other can be and game plan to keep the flood gates from opening. The Hounds played shut down D, smothering Louisville players whenever they had the ball. Most importantly they shut down Matt Fondy. Louisville’s offense pretty much goes through him, and making sure he’s having a bad night is usually a recipe for success. Statistically Louisville dominated shots on goal, but what they were able to lob at Brown weren’t very challenging. There were two dangerous headers that came awfully close to going on, but Lady Luck is a Hounds fan this year and kept them out of the net.
Once again we can’t talk about a game without mentioning the ref. There were two key, and wrong, calls for both teams that could’ve changed the outcome of this match. For the Hounds it was disallowing Moloto’s 59th minute goal by, presumably, calling Green offside even though he was nowhere near it. At least that’s what I think the call was because it was never clarified. The only other thing I could think of is they thought Green went out of bounds at the goal line, but that would be equally as bad.
Totally offside…
For Louisville, Brown got away with punching away the ball clearly outside of the 18. I suppose you could call those a wash, but I would argue the Hounds called off goal is worse since it was an actual goal. Louisville would’ve just gotten a free kick outside the 18, and who knows what would’ve happened.
Ultimately not a bad weekend for the Hounds. They got a win and thanks to other results their playoff chance percentage jumped back up to slightly over 50%. Four games to go, and this one is going to come down to the wire.
The Hounds return home for their last weekend home game this Saturday when the Charleston Battery come to town. It’s a big deal folks so you better be there! Kickoff is at 7:00 pm, tailgate starts at 4:00 pm. If you’re stuck at home baby sitting or something this match will be broadcasted live on TV on the new 22 The Point (formerly My Pittsburgh TV).
Notes
- Vincent gets another notch in the golden boot race, sliding into second place with Fondy. Unfortunately Oklahoma City’s König also scored another to keep the gap at 2 goals. It’ll be tough for Vincent to catch up since he’ll miss next week’s game due to yellow card accumulation.
- The Hounds played very defensive so there wasn’t much offense to talk about. A lot of balls through the air though which I found curious. Being that Louisville plays in a baseball stadium there is a definite good end and bad end in terms of field quality. I can understand putting the ball in the air when attacking the end with crappy infield carpet. However in the first half when going at the outfield side I would’ve liked to see the ball kept on the ground more. There seemed to be a lot more wing play too which is a bit different than what we’re used to this year.
- Poor Willie
- Kerr continuing the Steel Army tradition of messing up corner flags.
- Brown looked very confident in net this game. He continues to be the only Hounds keeper able to produce clean sheets this season.
- Props to the entire back line.
What They’re Saying
Alan Saunders – Pittsburgh Sporting News
In the second half, the Riverhounds found a way to do something that has eluded them most of the season: defend a narrow lead against a quality opponent.
You can read John Krysinky’s recap here.
Seems like no one is really talking about the Hounds lately. Guess it really is football season. A shame considering all the press they got earlier in the year during the Open Cup.
Playoff Watch
- No positions changed in the East this week.
- Harrisburg trounced FC Montreal 6-0.
- Charlotte drew Toronto II 2-0.
- Still no room for error.
#UNLEASH
