Riverhounds take point, but another step back in scoreless draw in N.C.

The winless streak for the Riverhounds stretched to nine in all competitions as they played out a rather turgid affair with North Carolina FC in Cary on a night where it took them far too long to get going, and even then it probably would have taken them a month of Sundays to find the back of the net. 

These fans had the right idea. The less of this game you saw, the better:

It all started an hour before kickoff as the teams were announced, and once again Bob Lilley shook things up as he looked to get the team out of their rut, and in a bit of a surprising move given how well they worked on Wednesday night, a couple of the tweaks came up front as Enoch Mushagalusa and Emmanuel Johnson were sent to the bench in place of Kazaiah Sterling and Edward Kizza:

With players likely impacted by the 90° heat, it was no surprise to see that the opening stages of the game played out at a rather pedestrian pace, and it wasn’t until the 11th minute that the Hounds were able to make a promising move into North Carolina territory, as Robbie Mertz was sprung loose down the right flank and put in a testing ball into the box, and if not for a hasty clearance by Justin Malou the ball would have found the feet of Kizza alone in the middle. 

The Riverhounds continued to slowly turn the screw and take control of the game after that, and if only Kizza had managed to get the ball out from under his feet after being played in behind by Danny Griffin, he would have been able to get the team’s first shot away, but another last ditch effort by Malou ensured that the home side dealt with the threat before it could become anything significant. 

It might sound like there wasn’t a lot of action in the first half, and that’s because there really wasn’t as these stats will demonstrate, indeed there were more stoppages for injuries than there were attempts on goal, including a nasty clash of heads that sent Pat Hogan to the dressing room early as he was left bleeding profusely above his eye:

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Stats from the first half of North Carolina FC v Pittsburgh Riverhounds

As the temperatures cooled with the second half beginning, it took ten minutes for the Hounds to receive their first major scare of the game, Rafa Mentzingen managed to sprint behind Illal Osumanu before firing a wicked ball across the face of goal, it evaded the dive of Oalex Anderson but fell to Ezra Armstrong who managed to fire wide with the goal at his mercy and really let the Hounds off the hook as they should have been 1-0 down. 

The problem for the Hounds this year has been their inability to finish the few chances that they’ve created, but on this night in Cary, NC, they couldn’t even get the chances in the first place, as they spent it pulling their best Big Bad Wolf impression, by huffing and puffing but not being able to even get a sniff of the North Carolina goal (and the fact that I could spend the whole second half trying to come up with that analogy shows you how little attention I could afford to give the game because there was so little action).

With five minutes to go, the Hounds finally snapped into gear as they forced North Carolina goalkeeper Jake McGuire into two smart saves in quick succession, the first from substitute Mushagalusa after he had danced his way into the box and fired a shot straight at the home side stopper, and from the following corner, Bradley Sample struck a superb volley from Kizza's corner that looked destined for the top net, only to be tipped over superbly by the 29-year-old:

Pierre Cayet would have a late chance from a corner, but his header sailed comfortably over the bar as the game drew to an end. 

I said in reaction to their 0-0 draw with Charleston Battery a few weeks ago that a boring night was what the team needed given their previous performances, but this 0-0 felt like it was another step backward, and a worrying step backward at that given how well they performed on Wednesday night, even though it was in defeat to USL-leading Louisville City.

This, quite simply, is a team that looks out of ideas. The lone saving grace appears to be the introduction of Mushagalusa, who has looked very promising in his two brief displays since joining this week. And whilst it might be asking a lot of him, if he can provide that spark up front that has been missing all season, this team is in with a chance of doing something.

If not, then this year is going to end up feeling pointless before we even hit August. 

The past week have seen the Riverhounds play three games. Last Saturday on the road against Hartford Athletic saw them fall behind early and never get back into the game, this past Wednesday when they took on the best team in the USL in Louisville City and succumbed to a 1-0 defeat on home soil, before rounding things off with their draw on the road tonight. 

Whilst in terms of points this was the ‘best’ result of the week, it was far from the best performance. When you can only generate two shots on target all game against a team that is close to you in the table (therefore a team you really should be looking to beat as games turn into ‘six-pointers’ now that we’re approaching the halfway point of the season), and you are let off the hook by one glaring miss by your opponents right at the start of the second half, you can’t justify that as a good display.

But that’s what Lilley believed as he spoke after the game:

“I thought overall we did a pretty good job, it was a difficult game for us, it was the third game in a week and we had very little time from Wednesday's disappointing game against Louisville. 

“I think the guys responded well, we had some balls in some really good areas and we just couldn't find that goal. North Carolina can probably say the same. Disappointed, we need three points, but this was our best performance of the week and certainly something we can we can build on.

“I think the guys really battled tonight. This was one of their more concentrated performances. It wasn't a piece of art, but it was a gutsy performance and I'm glad they got something out of the game. Like I said, hopefully we can build on it moving forward.”

Sometimes the stats don’t reflect the ‘eye test’ as it were and only when you study the game and take everything into context can you truly determine which was the better performance. So whilst Lilley might say that the game tonight was the best performance, I wholeheartedly disagree. 

Losing narrowly against Louisville told me a lot more about what this team can produce than the draw with North Carolina.

Louisville showed a performance that made you think that if the Hounds could play more like that throughout the rest of the season, they might just be alright. The last five minutes aside, the draw with North Carolina showed me that Wednesday night was perhaps a false hope and that this team is all out of ideas.

The only real spark came in the form of new acquisition Mushagalusa, who in his start on Wednesday and his brief appearance today, showed me that he could provide something with his pace, and he had that good chance late in the game that forced a smart save out of McGuire in the North Carolina goal, however Lilley seemed to think that the Congolese forward could and should have made a better decision with his effort:

“I think Enoch’s got to find someone and shouldn't be shooting. I mean Bobacar [Diene] is open, Kenny's [Kenardo Forbes] open, and we're shooting from the endline.” 

These two frames show the chance in question, and Lilley might be speaking a bit harshly in my opinion:

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Enoch Mushagalusa's chance late on in the game between the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and North Carolina FC

Given the proximity of the defender coming in, any cutback is going to be at risk of being blocked and likely put behind for a corner. If Mushagalusa was a little bit quicker, he might have been able to get the ball back a little earlier, but that is something that will come with time once he gets to know his teammates a bit better, how they time their runs and what positions they like to take up. 

Whatever way you look at it, the Hounds are in crisis at the moment, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. Next week sees them take on another mediocre team in Las Vegas Lights FC, and if they can’t pick something up out there, then I would not blame more of the Steel Army if they showed up to the next home game with bags on their heads like the fans at the top of the piece.