RIVERHOUNDS SC

Augi Williams and Robbie Mertz celebrate the former scoring for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at Highmark Stadium

An own goal from former Riverhound Thomas Vancaeyezeele and Augi Williams' first goal since March provided enough of a cushion for Bob Lilley's men to see off the Tampa Bay Rowdies in a 2-1 win at Highmark Stadium.

The Rowdies are a team that you would usually consider to be contenders for the playoffs, but have been well off the pace this season, and you got a sense early on that the Riverhounds smelled blood, forcing two corners inside the opening five minutes on a scorching night in the Steel City. 

They followed that up with two excellent chances that should have been executed better. First Luke Biasi shot from a narrow angle and hit the side netting when he should have cut the ball back, before Robbie Mertz’s weak effort from 12 yards out was easily swallowed up by Ethan Bandré in goal.

Their hard work would pay off soon enough, although it wasn’t through their own doing. Mertz whipped the ball in from a corner, and under pressure from Beto Ydrach, perhaps even via a slight push as well, Vancaeyezeele sliced his clearance into the back of the net:

And just as quickly as it took the fans in stands to reapply their sunscreen in the summer heat, the lead was doubled through William’s first goal since the opening game of the season as he rose the highest and thundered a header past a sprawling Bandre into the back of the net:

This is the goal that I’ve been crying out for them to bring out all season. Football can be a very simple game sometimes, and this is as simple as it gets. Ball to the back post, target man gets on the end of it, easy as pie. Now let's see more of it.  

The second goal seemed to finally wake the visitors up, as apart from a fizzed cross from Mertz that evaded everyone, the Hounds didn’t see much action in front of goal for the rest of the half. 

That allowed the Rowdies to get themselves back in the game as with less than five minutes to go until the break, Manuel Arteaga’s spin and finish on the edge of the box crept past Eric Dick to reduce the deficit:

After the challenges they faced towards the end of the first half, the opening exchanges in the second were going to be crucial with the Hounds hoping to slow the Tampa Bay momentum and they managed to do just that as Dick was kept mostly quiet as the game pushed beyond the hour mark and beyond as the Hounds slowly took back control.  

Indeed that’s how it played out for the vast majority of the second half as it passed largely without incident. When the highlight was an accidental clash between Charles Ahl and referee Natalie Simon that caused play to be stopped, that kind of tells you how the rest of the game played out. 

I know that ‘statements’ are a bit of a cliche in sports sometimes, but I feel like this could spark something within the team, especially with Williams who you could really tell gave a big sigh of relief when he celebrated his goal.

The highs from the opening exchanges, combined with how well they dealt with the momentum change shows that the team, at least for one night, can deal with the ebbs and flows of a game when they need to. It also wasn’t as if they were left scrambling at any time and just managed to hold on, that was a professional turnaround. 

And whilst this Tampa Bay side isn’t as good as the sides that have come before them, it’s still a huge lesson they can take into the coming weeks, and perhaps even beyond.