Riverhounds struggle in front of goal, held to draw by Loudoun

The Riverhounds' winning run came to an end, but they were at least able to grab a point on Saturday night, as Robbie Mertz’s first-half penalty was canceled out by Wesley Leggett in a close game against Loudoun United at Highmark Stadium that ended 1-1. 

The topic, if you will, of the Oakland Roots recap concerned confidence. The Hartford Athletic one was about progress. For this game, we can keep it relatively simple and focus on luck. How they used it all up in the first half and couldn't get it back again in the second.

The reason for that is simple, Bob Lilley spoke in his press conference last week about how the Riverhounds were “still owed a lot of luck” after some of the bounces and decisions that haven’t gone their way this season. Well, they certainly seemed to get that for the opening goal, as Emmanuel Johnson was bundled over by Yanis Leerman inside the area to earn the Riverhounds’ third penalty in the space of three games, a bundle that, at least from the press box, seemed to be nothing more than a coming together, but referee Alexandra Billeter deemed it to be a little more than that and pointed to the spot. 

You could make the argument that the luck continued with the penalty itself, as Mertz only just managed to squeeze it past the outstretched glove of Hugo Fauroux to give the Hounds yet another early lead: 

If you didn’t believe in luck then, you might have believed in it midway through the first half. In one of their rare attacks of the first half, Loudoun gave the Riverhounds the usual warning that they can’t afford to drop off, with Leggett turning inside the box and firing a thunderous effort off the crossbar that had Eric Dick well beaten and pretty much rooted to the spot. 

And still to follow, Florian Valot was presented with a golden chance to equalize for the visitors, after Leggett had managed to get behind the Hounds back line, he squared it to Valot who had the goal at his mercy, but pushed it wide from about eight yards out. Replays indicated that Illal Osumanu might have gotten a touch at the end to push it wide, but the referee again sided with the Hounds and gave a goal kick instead. 

Barring an Edward Kizza shot that was blasted right at Fauroux, the rest of the first half passed without a major incident at either end, but with the Riverhounds starting to get a little under the cosh and lose a bit of control in the game, that would have suited them just fine as the break gave them a chance to regroup.

And regroup they did as they came out the blocks flying in the second half and had two chances to double their lead inside the opening ten minutes, Jackson Walti having a curling effort headed over by Jacob Erlandson that looked destined for the top corner, before Kizza had a nice turn and shot on the edge of the box, but his left-footed effort just sailed over the bar.

The luck was bound to run out eventually though, and it occurred just past the hour mark as Leggett was able to squeeze through the Riverhounds back line before poking the ball past Dick and into the bottom corner, in a moment that, given how much Lilley stresses about discipline and shape, you can imagine he’d have been furious over:

Almost immediately though, the Hounds were up the other end trying to break the deadlock once more, with substitute Kazaiah Sterling and Danny Griffin both coming close with their respective efforts before another substitute in Kenardo Forbes came the closest with an effort that struck the outside of the post and behind for a goalkick as it looked like the old prophecy of using up all the team’s goals in the past two games might have come true. 

If further proof were needed, it came right at the death as Sterling, back in the lineup after a lengthy spell out of the team, was presented with the perfect ball to win in the form of Babacar Diene’s cross. The pass was inch-perfect into the six-yard box and the Englishman just didn’t get enough contact on it as the ball crept past the far post. 

In the dying moments, substitute Bradley Sample saw himself given his marching orders with a straight red card for going in rather too hard in a tackle on Kalil El-Medkhar and forced the Riverhounds to see out stoppage time with just ten men, which they did to bring their winning streak to an end and share the spoils in a game where a draw was probably the fair result. 

The game was most certainly a ‘step back’ for the Riverhounds compared to the past few weeks, but we all knew that the goals weren’t going to keep flowing the way they had forever. The important thing now is for them to make sure they don’t pull a complete 180 turn and get back to the form they had in May and June.

These tough games will keep coming, and if this can act as a learning curve for them, then that will be a step in the right direction. However the question then becomes, did they turn it around too late to make a meaningful impact on the business end of the season?