Inconsistent Riverhounds settle for scoreless draw at home

One thing the Pittsburgh Riverhounds have been consistent with this season is being inconsistent.

A grind-it-out style win on the road over Atlanta on Saturday was a positive step for the Riverhounds, but they did not build on it at Highmark Stadium on Wednesday night, settling for a 0-0 draw against Charleston Battery.

It’s the third straight home game the Hounds (14-7-6) failed to record a victory. They are in fifth in the USL Championship Eastern Conference, two points behind Birmingham for fourth place and the right to host a first-round playoff game.

“It’s no secret that we’ve been inconsistent all year,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “It’s getting to the back end of the season and these points are important. We have two draws and a loss in our last three home games. Generally nine points. We lost to Memphis and we probably outplayed them more than we did New York or Charleston where we got a draw. That’s disappointing. The win in Atlanta was a good win. It isn’t easy to win there and we created more chances there than we did tonight against Charleston.”

The Hounds are in a stretch of four games against the bottom of the table. So far, they have scored five of a possible nine points but can turn that into eight with a win at Loudoun on Sunday.

With it being a midweek game, there was some squad rotation. Regular starters Kenardo Forbes, Alex Dixon, Albert Dikwa and Robbie Mertz started the night on the bench.

Lilley was pleased with how the team played in the first half outside of not getting a goal. He substituted in Forbes and Dixon to begin the second half, hoping for a jolt in the attack, but the team did not threaten for a goal until late in the match.

Dixon had a strong cross in stoppage time, but it just eluded the outstretched leg of Forbes. Dani Rovira had a long shot drift over the crossbar a few moments later following a corner kick from Forbes.

The Hounds also had a couple of free kicks from just outside the 18-yard box in the final 20 minutes, but none of them threatened the goal.

Lilley felt the team had a lack of urgency to press forward and create chances until late in the game.

“You can’t wait until the 80th minute to try and find a goal,” Lilley said. “We’re at home and we were too patient, like we think it’s just going to happen. We needed to push the tempo. That was the message in the last 20 minutes. Get the ball higher, push up and try to get balls into the box. At that point, (Charleston) was happy. They were playing spoiler where if they could tie the game or even win the game, then they won the night.”

While a draw against a bottom of the table team wasn’t ideal, it could’ve been worse for the Hounds if not for some strong defensive plays, including a heads-up moment by Arturo Ordonez.

In the 39th minute, Hounds keeper Jahmali Waite came off his line for a potential loose ball and collided with teammate Luke Biasi, leaving them both on the ground and the net empty. Ordonez alertly went to the goal line and headed an attempted shot by Charleston over the bar to save a goal.

That was the only shot on target for Charleston for the entire game.

“I thought we did a good job limiting their chances,” Hounds midfielder Danny Griffin said. “We knew they were good in transition. We did well to deal with that and not give up much. But offensively, we could’ve been better on the ball in possession and string more passes together in the attacking half to create more chances than we did.”