Jacqesson's hat trick helps Hounds blow away lowly Miami, 4-0

Win the game? Check

Beef up the goal difference? Check

Get help from the other teams around the league? Not totally thanks to Loudoun United’s win over Hartford Athletic, but in the words of Meat Loaf, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.” 

A hat trick from Bertin Jacquesson and a further goal from Edward Kizza ensured that a potential banana-skin was avoided and instead became a comfortable 4-0 win for the Riverhounds as they took care of a poor Miami FC side on the road in South Florida and kept up the pressure for a spot in the postseason. 

Before the game, I stressed that the Hounds needed to play on the front foot and with purpose, not just to win, but so they could win big and get that goal difference as high as possible, but in the early stages that attacking mentality wasn’t exactly on show in abundance.

That’s not to say there weren’t chances, with Jacquesson forcing the first corner of the game after a neat run behind the Miami backline and then stinging Daniel Gagliardi's gloves a few minutes later with a fierce strike from outside the box that seemed destined for the top corner.

The first half heatmap told the story, and at the worst possible time, it seemed as though the story was going to be a repeat of what has held the Hounds back for the vast majority of the season, with the traffic going in one direction for the vast majority of the opening 45 minutes, but with the attacking output not resulting in any changes on the scoreboard:

USL Championship Match Center

The heatmap of the first half of Miami FC vs. Riverhounds

That change though finally came just as it seemed as though Bob Lilley was going to be forced to read the riot act to the team in the locker room, and it came, in large part, thanks to the Hounds’ most reliable source this whole season, Junior Etou, who after causing his opposite number Marco Santana plenty of problems in the opening half, did so once again as he left him for dead before firing a cross through the box that Gagliardi couldn’t hold onto, giving Jacquesson the easy task of bundling the ball home at the back post:

The buildup was great, and there was more than a little bit of luck in the finish, but with the playoff race on a knife edge, the Hounds need all the luck that they can get, and if they need to score five more just like that before the season is out, then so be it.

Speaking after the game, Lilley noted there was luck in a different way, as the timing of the goal made his talk at the break all the easier:

“We were fortunate we got the goal before halftime, because if that goes into the second half 0-0, it gets that much harder. 

Whilst the quality of the Hounds’ opponents was never going to be confused with their star-studded MLS counterparts up I-95, you can never be too comfortable watching this team whilst they only have a one-goal lead. 

Fortunately though, that lead didn’t stay at one for long after the restart, and if you thought the first goal had a bit of luck involved, there was just as much, and perhaps maybe more, with the second, as Jacquesson fired in from outside the box with an effort that we’ll never truly know was a cross or a shot, but either way the Frenchman took advantage of Gagliardi creeping too far off his line:

Then came the time to start turning the screw, and this time it was Jacquesson’s attacking partner Kizza to get his name on the scoresheet less than ten minutes later, picking up a loose ball in the area before firing across the face of goal and burying the ball in the back of the net:

The Hounds didn’t have it all their own way though, as they were given a brief scare through Mujeeb Murana as he snuck past Etou and lobbed the onrushing Gabriel Perrotta, only to see the ball rebound off the post and safely into the goalkeeper’s hands.

Whilst the result was never in doubt as the second half ticked away, the only question remaining concerned the final score, and whilst Bradley Sample did his best to get on the scoreboard with a strike from just inside the area, it was Jacquesson who put the icing on the cake with fifteen minutes to go as he ensured he’d take home the match ball, latching onto Sample’s inch-perfect through ball and prodding home past the onrushing Gagliardi to grab his hat trick: 

Whilst on paper everything worked well for the Hounds, the truth is, it would have taken something disastrous for the result to be anything but three points for Lilley’s men. So whilst scoring four goals for the second time this season is good, it’s not necessarily a true reflection of where this team is trying to be. 

Against any other team in the USL, a team that are more experienced and won’t make the mistakes that Miami FC did, it isn’t the cakewalk that this game turned into, so what we can’t be drawn into is a false sense of security, especially with games against Charleston Battery and a massive six-pointer against Loudoun United on the horizon over the next two weeks. 

Lilley noted as much after the game stating:

“Defensively, we were poor, but they didn’t punish us. When they break our lines, we have to recover as a team. They got into the final third, and they had some free shots, some free service. There was the save Gabi (Gabriel Perrotta) made from the corner, it’s a good save, but the guy’s getting a free header in the box. Charleston and the teams we play coming up are going to punish us for that.”