Coach Lilley not pleased with Riverhounds' play despite 1-0 victory

The good news for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Saturday night was they won their third straight game at Highmark Stadium with a 1-0 victory over Loudoun United F.C. and moved into a first-place tie in the USL Atlantic Division.

Their play however, in the eyes of coach Bob Lilley, left little to be desired.

“We were poor on the night across the board,” Lilley said. “Even though they didn’t have a lot of chances, we didn’t defend well. They were able to get in behind us, and too many balls were played through our lines. We started the game brightly, but then we couldn’t string five passes together.”

A goal by Russell Cicerone in the sixth minute proved to be enough for the Riverhounds, who have earned points in four of their last five matches.

The goal was set up by a pass through the box by Alex Dixon. The pass deflected off Albert Dikwa and then off Cicerone’s face and went into the net. Dikwa and Cicerone made runs to the far post on the pass.

It was Cicerone’s team-leading sixth goal of the season and marked a new career-high in USL play.

“That’s what we try to do is make hard runs and put the ball into dangerous areas,” Cicerone said. “That was one decent moment of the game. We need to create a lot more of them.”

The Riverhounds (7-4-3) are tied with Tampa Bay, a 2-1 loser to Miami FC Saturday, with 24 points in the Atlantic Division. Loudoun is in last place at 2-10.

On Saturday, though, the Riverhounds spent the majority of the night chasing Loudoun, which had 60% of the possession.

Lilley had a long discussion with his team after the match ended.

“We got the early goal, and the rest of the half we just kicked the ball forward,” Lilley said. “There was no possession or attempt to possess. We just kept giving the ball away, and (Loudoun) played their way into the game. We didn’t give up a lot, but with it being 1-0 at halftime, they were in the game because of how poor we played the last 35 minutes.”

Loudoun turned up the pressure midway through the second half, starting with a dangerous indirect kick just outside the box.

The attempt was thwarted by a nice block from Danny Griffin. Loudoun had a couple more shots on goal later in the half, but they were denied by Danny Vitello, who made three saves for his third shutout of the season.

The Riverhounds’ had several crosses go awry in the second half while searching for a second goal. They finished with a dozen shots but only four on target.

“I thought we came out a little better in the second half and had some good moments, but we’re just not executing at the attacking end,” Lilley said. “It’s not enough good enough with the final ball or the run, but I also think there’s some moments where we try to play a through ball when we are running with a defender. It’s a foot race ball when we could just hold it another touch and wait for a guy to come wide open on the other side of the field. We just try to jam it in there instead of having the composure to wait for the right option.”

Riverhounds captain Kenardo Forbes made his 100th appearance with the team.

The team was without the services of Jelani Peters and Mekeil Williams, who are playing for Trinidad and Tobago in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Jordan Dover and Josh Gatt were scratches because of injury. Dover has missed the last five matches.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Riverhounds’ Academy team topped Kings Hammer, 2-0, to win their first USL Academy League game of its inaugural season. Plum grad Didi Flowers and Pine-Richland grad Will Sangpachatanaruk had the goals for the Riverhounds.