Toby Sims nets pair of goals in 1st experience at midfield, leads Riverhounds to win

Toby Sims saw his name penciled in as a midfielder on the lineup board after Monday’s practice and did a double take.

“I was like … I’ve never played that position before,” he said.

Sims is a defender by trade, but Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley gave him an opportunity to play in an attacking role in Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup match, and he paid it off with the first two goals of his professional career in a 2-0 win over the Maryland Bobcats at Highmark Stadium.

It was a night to remember for the Englishman, who is in his rookie season.

“I was a little apprehensive going into the game, but I definitely felt more comfortable as time went on,” Sims said. “I was happy. I got more touches, worked hard and it paid off in the end. It was my first time playing there, so after tonight I guess I do like it.”

Sims helped the Riverhounds have a successful return to Cup play after the competition was put on hiatus the last two years because of the pandemic.

They improved to 4-0-1 across all competitions, while Maryland, of the third division NISA, fell to 1-1-1.

The draw for the third round of the U.S. Open Cup is on Friday. Opponents and sites will be determined from the draw. There will be 17 MLS teams entering the tournament in the third round and 31 second-round winners.

The first goal came in the 37th minute when Luis Argudo ran down a long pass from Jesse Williams and crossed it to Sims, who got a good touch and buried it into the back of the net.

Wyatt Borso hit Sims with a cross-field pass to set up the second goal in the 56th minute. Sims then took advantage of a defender falling down and struck a shot into the top-right corner.

Lilley joked that maybe he should play guys out of position more often but said he saw some attributes in Sims that showed he could handle playing further up the field.

“He has a really good right foot, and he’s a great crosser of the ball,” Lilley said. “He’s a wing back, but tonight we weren’t playing a wing back system. We knew he could do it. He does a good job and is a hard-nosed kid. When the cross comes in, he knows to get in the box. He’s pretty good technically, so it doesn’t surprise me that with two clean looks he was going to hit the frame.”

Lilley used the match to get some younger players such as Sims, Wyatt Borso, William Eyang, Jesse Williams and Nathan Dossantos minutes.

“They will grow from this experience,” Lilley said. “Many of them hadn’t played 90 minutes all season. I told them that it was a game that I hope I didn’t miscalculate and that they had to step up and be responsible. They have to step up, and not just when they have the regulars next to them. There’s going to be times when we have guys injured, and we’ll need more guys to step up. This was their chance, and, overall, I thought they gave us what we needed on the night. They battled hard and we got the result.”

Many of the veterans, including Dane Kelly, Kenardo Forbes and Danny Griffin, got the night off, and Russell Cicerone and Jelani Peters didn’t enter until the 76th minute.

That means the Riverhounds’ core will be rested when they return to USL Championship play with a road trip to FC Tulsa 2 p.m. Saturday.