Sloppy scoreless draw dashes Riverhounds' 2nd-place hopes

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds’ chances of hosting a first-round playoff game were dashed Saturday night in one of the sloppiest matches of the season.

A total of 39 fouls and 12 yellow cards were handed out between the Riverhounds and Hartford Athletic in a match that featured little rhythm and ended in a 0-0 draw at Highmark Stadium.

The Riverhounds (17-8-7) needed a win and a draw or loss from Charlotte to finish in second place in the USL’s Atlantic Division. They’ll settle for third and travel to Birmingham for the first round next weekend. Dates and times for the first-round matches will be announced Sunday.

Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley was disappointed with the team’s performance and the way they attacked Hartford.

“You can look at all the other things that went on tonight, but the reality is we didn’t play well,” Lilley said. “We’ll have to look at it as a staff, because it looked like we didn’t have a plan. It was kick the ball, crash into people and hope we could win the game on one ball up top. We didn’t connect any passes and we didn’t switch play. There wasn’t any rhythm to the game, and we didn’t try to get a rhythm to the game.

A first half full of whistles and stoppages set the tone for the match. There were 22 fouls called, an average of one foul every two minutes. Hartford was whistled a dozen times and three players — Younes Boudadi, Danny Barrera and Nicolas Cardona — received a yellow card.

It continued into the second half with three Riverhounds players — Dani Rovira, Danny Griffin and Jelani Peters — shown the yellow card. Juan Carlos Obregon Jr., Jeff Caldwell and Walmer Martinez were cautioned for Hartford in the second half and both benches received a yellow.

“We didn’t get into a rhythm as much as we would’ve liked,” said Griffin, who is the only Riverhounds player to start every match and played all but 12 minutes of the regular season. “We have to take this game with a grain of salt. We’ll look at it and watch the tape, but we know we have to be better when we face Birmingham this weekend.”

The Riverhounds’ best chance to score in the second half came in the 88th minute when Jordan Dover sent a cross into the box that Kenardo Forbes left for Anthony Velarde, but Velarde’s attempt went wide.

Alex Dixon and Russell Cicerone each had a clear shot at the net the first half, but both chances also went wide. Kenardo Forbes bent a free kick on goal from just outside the box on the left side, but Caldwell got his hands on it to keep it out.

“We had three or four clear looks and we didn’t hit the target on one of them,” Lilley said. “Aside from that, we didn’t generate much. Their goalie only had one save, so on a wet surface, we didn’t make the keeper work. We didn’t create enough, and the game got stretched because we never had long stretches of possession. I told the guys it wasn’t a loss in the standings, but it was ultimately a loss, because that point did nothing for us.”

Lilley said the Riverhounds are at their best when they are passing through the lines and forcing defenders into decisions. He didn’t see that at all Saturday and is hopeful they can rectify it and return to form for the postseason.

“We didn’t accomplish our task tonight of putting pressure on Charlotte, but we have to regroup quickly,” Lilley said. “We are unbeaten in the last four, so we’re in good form. Hopefully we can shake this off and get back to playing the way we are capable of playing. It’s unlikely we’ll get a home playoff game now, so we’re going to have to go on the road and play our best soccer. If we play our best soccer, we are capable of beating anybody.”