Riverhounds look better, but can't pick up the win at home to USL-leading Louisville

The Riverhounds saw their winless streak extend to seven games in the USL Championship as a Jansen Wilson effort early in the second half saw them fall 1-0 to Lousiville City at Highmark Stadium.

Having not won a game since the start of May, and facing the best team in the USL Championship to date, the aim for the Riverhounds was pretty simple… just don’t get embarrassed. And whilst they didn’t pick up the win, their performance was arguably one of the best they've put in during this winless run.

Things started a little tetchy for the home side, getting just a few warnings that they were going to be in for a tough night, first seeing Louisville left-back Jake Morris narrowly fire a shot over the bar having been granted acres of space on the edge of the box, before a misplaced Jacob Randolph clearance went straight to the feet of Wilson Harris, but thankfully he was able to get up quickly and save the follow up. 

Harris was again instrumental in another golden opportunity for the visitors just past the twenty minute mark, judging a cross from the left wing better than Hounds defender Pat Hogan who saw it sail over his head, and if he’d had a better first touch, he’d have had the simple task of tapping into the net, luckily for the Hounds though, the ball bounced right into the hands of the onrushing Randolph. 

Whilst the Hounds didn’t have many big chances to speak of in the first half, one of the few bright points for the team in the first half was the new front pairing of Enoch Mushagalusa, signed just this week, and Emmanuel Johnson who certainly caused their problems on occasion with runs in behind the back line and gelled well together with the rest of the team.

The best chance for either team though would come from the Hounds on the stroke of halftime. Aidan O'Toole flicked the ball into the box with a silky aerial backheel and the ball fell to Danny Griffin whose first-time effort just sailed above the crossbar as the Hounds finally managed to find their feet as the first period drew to a close:

Perhaps the halftime break came at the wrong time for the Hounds, as it didn’t take the visitors long before they found the back of the net as Wilson fired in from just outside the box after the Hounds failed to deal with a loose ball after some impressive holdup play from Elijah Wynder: 

The question now, was how would the Riverhounds respond? To their credit, they didn’t take it lying down with Mushagalusa creating a chance for himself right away with a lung-busting run through the midfield before firing his effort just over, whilst substitute Edward Kizza had his headed effort blocked by former Hound Arturo Ordonez to guide it back to Damian Las in the Louisville goal. 

Their attempts to get back into the game were hampered though with fifteen minutes to go, as Luke Biasi was sent off for collecting his second yellow card of the game, but they still were presented with a decent chance as Junior Etou was slipped in behind by O’Toole, but he was met by the onrushing Las to block his goalbound effort: 

They were presented with a golden chance in stoppage time to grab the equalizer as Kizza was put through after Kazaiah Sterling couldn’t get full control of the ball, but he could only scuff the ball wide of the near post as he was bearing down with the goal at his mercy.