Photo courtesy of Alan Saunder / Pittsburgh Soccer Now
For the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, a busy stretch of three games in eight days ended with a second consecutive goalless draw, this time at home to San Antonio FC at Highmark Stadium on Saturday night.
Riverhounds have to settle for another goalless draw
The good news for Pittsburgh football fans is that the Hounds have extended their winning streak to six games.
The bad news is that the Hounds are again having increasing problems creating and exploiting good scoring opportunities.
Despite having better possession and a 15-5 shot advantage, the Hounds only managed a single shot on goal, while goalkeeper Eric Dick, despite a lack of defense, kept a clean sheet for the third time in a row and the ninth time this season.
Pittsburgh Sports NowAlan Saunders, along with other media representatives, waited patiently for the post-match press conference with Hounds head coach Bob Lilley and defender Pat Hogan – which was slightly delayed as Lilley held court with his players on the field immediately after the disappointing result for a Hounds team that desperately needed more wins. (**Videos from PSN’s YouTube channel are posted below – including the entire 28 minutes of Lilley’s debriefing)
After the smoke cleared early Sunday morning in Pittsburgh while the Hounds, rivals in the USL Championship Eastern Conference, finished their games on the West Coast, Pittsburgh (6 wins, 9 losses and 10 days – 27 points) still sits in 10th place and hopes to break through and cross the playoff line (8th place or higher) with just 10 games left.
They are still behind the rest, although the tie puts them one point ahead, but are now two points behind North Carolina FC (29 points – 4-1 win over Co. Springs), three points behind Loudoun United FC (30 points – loss in Oakland) and four points behind Detroit City FC (31 points – draw in Las Vegas). Rhode Island FC moved ahead of the others to 6th place thanks to its 3-0 win over Hartford.
Short of his 400th win as a professional coach, Lilley will have to wait until next week when the Hounds host Colorado Springs. That evening, the veteran coach took the microphone for a lengthy interview (which lasted 28 minutes) to answer questions after the 13th game this season in which his Hounds failed to score.
The experienced coach acknowledged the efforts of his players, but again criticized the team’s execution, especially in the attacking third.
“I’m proud of our boys, but we need to step it up a gear,” Lilley said.
“We came out with fire, put them behind us, put pressure on them and created a lot of chances. We didn’t score a goal, but we had to keep that up for the rest of the half and the second half. We lost the last 15 to 20 minutes of the first half and the game was tied.”
“In the second half we played more in their half and there were positive aspects to our game, but we had no urgency until the last 15 minutes. There was a 50-minute gap in the middle of the game where we needed to be more productive.”
Hogan, now in his fifth year as a professional and in his second season with Pittsburgh, also had to face media questions after another impressive defensive performance that prevented the opposition from getting a single shot on goal.
“It’s reassuring that our defense is doing its job,” Hogan said.
“It’s just a shame that we couldn’t take three points from each of the (last) three games, because we could really use them now. But as far as keeping a clean sheet is concerned, we’re on the right track. Hopefully we can score the goal that will give us the win.”
“I was a little shocked that (San Antonio) didn’t come out and try in the second half, but I think we did a good job of moving the ball back and forth and getting them moving a little bit,” Hogan said.
“We just couldn’t find a clear chance to finish or to free a man in the box. We had one or two runners and they had five or six in the box. It’s a numbers game. You have to have more players in the box if you want to have a better chance of scoring.”
INTERVIEWS WITH BOB LILLEY AND PAT HOGAN AFTER THE MATCH
