Riverhounds connect on corner kick, scratch out win over New York Red Bulls II

Listed at 6-foot-5, Jelani Peters is the tallest player on the Riverhounds, so every time there’s a corner kick, he knows he is going to be in the box near the front of goal.

Peters has been posted there all year, but the Riverhounds hadn’t found the execution they’d like on a corner kick until they finally broke through Wednesday night.

Peters headed in a ball off a corner from Kenardo Forbes for the Riverhounds’ first goal directly off a corner kick all season, and it proved to be the difference in a 1-0 win over New York Red Bulls II at Highmark Stadium.

“With how tall I am, just running in and jumping is going to be an advantage on a corner,” Peters said. “Kenny put a great ball in, and I was happy that I was able to get my head on it and get the game-winner.”

Peters, a center back, helped the Riverhounds (13-6-4) post their sixth clean sheet of the year and third win in a row. They moved into sole possession of first place in the USL Atlantic Division by three points over Tampa Bay, but the Rowdies have three games in hand. New York (3-13-4) dropped its seventh consecutive match.

Peters’ goal came in the 32nd minute. Forbes put an in-swinging ball into the box that Peters smashed home. It was his first shot on goal all year on his sixth attempt.

“We haven’t scored off corners as much as we would like, so it was nice to get a goal,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “It was an important game for us to get the three points. It’s a home game. We didn’t play great, but we’ve played a lot of games recently, so just to get through this one was good.”

The match was physical from start to finish. There 21 fouls called and four yellow cards issued in the first half alone.

The Riverhounds received three of those first-half yellows. In the 10th minute, Tommy Williamson was shown the yellow after he attempted a bicycle kick in front of goal and caught a piece of a New York defender. Eight minutes later, Shane Weidt picked up a yellow for a hard foul near midfield. Tom Judge was booked right before halftime for tripping Jeremy Rafanello.

There were players from both teams who spent some time gathering themselves after collisions.

Williamson was down twice in the first half. The first time was on the bicycle kick attempt. The second instance forced him to leave the game midway through the first half for several minutes with a gash. The training staff wrapped his head in yellow tape, and he reentered.

Riverhounds keeper Danny Vitiello spent time on the ground after a collision in the box, and Judge had to leave the game briefly with a bloody nose.

“I felt like it was borderline reckless at times, but that’s part of the game,” Lilley said. “It’s just the way the game was being called.”

New York’s best opportunity to tie the game came in the 65th minute when Luther Achrimede had a close-range shot go wide of an open net.

“We held up pretty well in the back,” Lilley said. “They had the one chance where they could’ve tied it, and we were fortunate there. It was a little disappointing that we had very few scoring chances over the 90 minutes. They are a team that you should expect to get more chances against.

“We didn’t do a great job getting out of our own end, but sometimes you win with quality and other times you have to win with effort, being stubborn and posting a clean sheet. We did enough to win tonight.”

Jordan Dover, who has been injured for a couple months, appeared for the first time in 16 games. He came in as a substitute in the 77th minute.

“He did well for us the last 15 minutes, getting us possession and intelligently reading the game,” Lilley said. “His experience helped us close out that game.”

The Riverhounds have a short turnaround, playing again Saturday at San Antonio.