The Pittsburgh Riverhounds received the news they hoped for Friday when the USL announced there will be a restart of the game at Miami FC in the 67th minute due to an officiating error that cost them a goal.

For that match to matter in the race for a home playoff game, however, they needed a result Saturday, and as he has all season, Russell Cicerone provided a big goal to deliver it.

Cicerone struck in the 79th minute to propel the Riverhounds to a 2-1 win over Charleston Battery in front of a season-high crowd of 4,097 at Highmark Stadium.

It was Cicerone’s 16th goal of the year, which is the third highest single-season total in Riverhounds history.

“With all the work the club and the owner (Tuffy Schallenberger) put in to get us this chance back (against Miami), it would’ve been all for naught if we don’t get three points tonight,” Cicerone said. “We didn’t play with the best foot forward tonight. We had been really good lately with our attacking moves. It wasn’t happening for us tonight, but we grinded out a win, and that’s extremely important this time of year.”

The win puts the Riverhounds (16-8-6) one point behind Charlotte in the battle for second place in the Atlantic Division. Both teams have two games remaining, so the Riverhounds will likely need to win out and have Charlotte draw or lose a match.

“We can check this one off. This was the big question,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “There was a lot of noise this week, and we didn’t know how the league would rule, so told the guys that we had to be ready to do our job Saturday night. I’m proud of the guys for getting a win.”

Jordan Dover subbed in the 78th minute and played a crucial part in the game-winning goal by making the initial pass upfield to Alex Dixon.

Dixon then found Cicerone with a pass in the middle with enough space to put a shot on net.

“Jordan’s just so experienced,” Lilley said. “He’s struggled with some injures, but I said to my assistant Dan Visser that Jordan unlocked that. He got in and found an angled ball into a pocket of space for Dixon.”

Todd Wharton netted his fourth goal of the season to open the scoring in the 27th minute. He hit the post with a shot, but the rebound bounced to Cicerone, who fed him again and he made good on his second chance.

Nicque Daley got the equalizer for Charleston in the 65th minute on a shot from just outside the box.

Lilley felt that his team’s passing could’ve been better and they could’ve used the wider areas of the field more, but he was pleased with the defending and the determination of his group to get a result.

“I told the guys that we could’ve played better, but it was important to get the three points,” Lilley said. “It was nice to see that when the momentum swung and it was 1-1 that we were able to gather ourselves and create a winning moment and then hang on to it fairly comfortably. We had a great crowd here and the win was important for momentum regardless of how the final table ends up.”

The Riverhounds travel to Miami for the restarted game on Wednesday holding a 1-0 lead. If they can hold that result, Saturday’s home regular season finale against Hartford could decide whether they travel or host for the first round of the playoffs.

“We’re going to have to be ready because (Miami) is going to tilt it to attacking strategy right out of the gate,” Lilley said. “There’s two ways to look at it. You can defend, but that’s a long time to defend at home, let alone in Miami with the firepower they have. We’ll have to find that balance where we have a clear understanding of how we want to defend. They are going to take risks, so the best way to win the game could be to find a way to get a goal and put the game away rather than try to hang on.”

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