Late goal sees Hounds fall to Tampa Bay, slip out of playoff spots

The last time the Riverhounds made the trip to Al Lang Stadium, they returned home with the Players’ Shield, this time however they were forced to leave empty-handed and with their undefeated streak snapped, as second half goals from Manuel Arteaga and Leo Fernandes cancelled out Jackson Walti’s first half strike as they fell 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Rowdies. 

In my recap of their last game against Rhode Island FC, I mentioned that “I’ve been drawn in to believe in this team too many times this season and they’ve taught me to always have that little doubt in the back of my mind that things can change and that heartbreak is still around the corner”. 

And whilst this isn’t necessarily a result that should be deemed as harsh as that on the surface, after all Tampa Bay are third in the Eastern Conference for a reason, the manner in which the game unfolded might just have you thinking that the heartbreak is going to be a slow burning one, as once again the Riverhounds were their own worst enemies when all was said and done. 

The game started out well for the Riverhounds, almost as if he hadn’t been away, it was Junior Etou that would play a key role in the first clear-cut chance of the game, back after his stint with the Congo on international duty, he danced around Eddie Munjoma before cutting the ball back to an onrushing Robbie Mertz, but the ball was just an inch too far behind him and he couldn’t get the right contact on his strike and missed what was in all-essence an open goal.

Etou would again provide another shooting oppurtunity minutes later, this time cutting the ball back to Walti on the edge of the box, but sent his effort sailing over the bar, whilst at the other end, Eric Dick had to be alert to cut out Cal Jennings’ cross from the byline in what was an action-packed start to say the least. 

That chance seemed to wake the home side up a bit, as they began to take the initiative and had the Riverhounds on the back foot a bit, with Ben Bender dragging a shot just wide of the post from outside the box with an effort that he should have at least got on target, whilst a few minutes later Dick was once again asked to keep out Munjoma’s cross that he wouldn’t have seen until late thanks to the onrushing Jennings. 

Jennings would give the Riverhounds a scare of his own just before the halftime, cutting inside and firing a left-footed effort inches over the bar that had Dick scrambling as the home side continued to pile on the pressure as they tried to break the deadlock. 

The deadlock though would actually be broken by the visitors very much against the run of play as Walti would bag his second of the season, catching the Rowdies completely off guard with his early shot from outside the box, with Jordan Farr unsighted thanks to both defender Zane Bubb the run of Edward Kizza and across the face of goal at exactly the right time: 

This goal here is all about the quick movement, the fact the two men before Walti both took just two touches on the ball before moving it on is something that Bob Lilley has stressed all year, getting the ball out quickly and making good, quick, clean passes to the next man, and that was on display right there at the perfect time. 

The beginning of the second half wasn’t quite as thrilling as the start of the first, but that was always going to be exactly what the Riverhounds were hoping for. Coming into the game with a record of 8-0-3 when scoring first, there was always going to be a certain level of confidence in being able to see the game out, although a second goal was never going to be sniffed at and something you felt was always going to be essential to kill off a game that was as close as this (and based on what happened next, I almost blame myself for inserting this stat into the story before the game was over, because yes I do believe in jinxes). 

As the game entered the final third, the Rowdies proved exactly why the Riverhounds needed to put the game away as the home side finally managed to break through after plenty of huffing and puffing, with Arteaga applying a neat flick to finish off from Jennings’ cross at the byline: 

There isn’t a lot of complaining you can do with a goal like this, especially for Illal Osumanu who had Arteaga where he needed him and probably wasn’t expecting that little flick to come his way, although it should be noted that the Ghanaian did suffer a slight knock earlier in the game and perhaps should have been swapped out for someone like Pat Hogan. Perhaps you could take issue with Etou for not being able to keep up with Jennings as he tracked back, but as the Riverhounds’ Twitter feed pointed out, it could have just been down to pure fatigue:

Speaking to the Riverhounds media team after the game, Lilley believed that fatigue may indeed have played a part in the first goal, whilst also putting some of the blame on the players for not being in the right positions: 

"We didn’t have numbers defensively, but we had Etou stepping out, which forces Biasi to step wider, and that was their tying goal. We didn’t do a good enough job, and I feel like the heat beat us as much as anything, which is disappointing to say at this point of the season. We took some liberties and shortcuts, when we needed to be more collective as a team.”

Lilley was also far from happy with the attitude his team took when it came to handling the second half:

“The biggest issue was that we tried to defend the whole second half, and you can’t do that, particularly in Tampa. You either have to get a second goal, or you have to keep playing. We tried to sit on it, and we let the game get stretched and didn’t close our lines well enough.”

Substitute Emmanuel Johnson had a chance almost instantly to get the lead back after picking up a loose ball in the area, but took a touch too many and had his effort blocked by an onrushing defender. Danny Griffin also had a chance late on to break the deadlock once again, but his left-footed effort from inside the box sailed wide and less than a minute later, he and the Riverhounds were made to pay as substitute Fernandes was the quickest to react to a loose ball, get his foot to the ball, get a lot of luck with a huge deflection and fire the ball into the net to take all three points:

As pointed out earlier, this could have simply been a fatigue thing, a set of fresher legs getting to the ball just that split-second before the group of Riverhounds that were closing in on the ball. 

Kenardo Forbes headed Bradley Sample’s cross over the bar as the Riverhounds tried desperately to get back into the game, but that was the last sniff of goal they would get as the Rowdies were able to drain the clock, see the game out and take all three points. 

Results elsewhere mean that the Riverhounds will go into their week off outside of the playoff spots and now having to rely on help from elsewhere to get back into the top eight of the Eastern Conference, but realistically they need to spend it regrouping and getting in the right head space. 

Late goals are always going to happen in football, but for the Riverhounds, they are starting to creep in at the worst possible time, with Fernandes’ strike meaning that three of the last four goals that they have conceded have come in stoppage time. 

For a team that prides itself on the strength of its back line, it doesn’t mean much if the few goals you do give up end up costing you points. Especially if it ends up costing you a place in the postseason as a result.