Riverhounds concede another late goal as home winless streak extends to 6

For the majority of Bob Lilley’s tenure with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, three points at home was the norm.

Highmark Stadium was a fortress in a sense, but lately there have been cracks, and it’s likely going to cost them a home playoff game.

The Hounds conceded a late goal for the second consecutive week and fell 1-0 to San Antonio FC Saturday night.

Carter Manley scored in the 85th minute off a Nicky Hernandez cross. With the win, San Antonio FC (23-5-4) clinched the best record in the USL Championship and will have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Hounds, on the other hand, dropped to sixth in the Eastern Conference at 15-9-8. They haven’t won a home game since July 30 and are 0-2-4 in their last six home games.

“My focus is that we’re going to the playoffs,” Lilley said. “It’s disappointing that we’ll likely not have a home playoff game. We haven’t taken our chances well enough at home or in the season overall, but we still have two more games to figure it out.”

The Hounds are only two points out of fourth behind Tampa Bay and Birmingham, but Tampa has two games in hand and Birmingham had a 10 p.m. kickoff at Oakland with the potential to gain three more points. Detroit City moved one point ahead of the Hounds for fifth.

Lilley was pleased with the team’s performance through the first 60 minutes against the league’s top team. He said he told the players after the game that they were the better team through that point, but they have to be able to carry that level for the full 90.

In the first half the Hounds had 70% of the possession and connected passes to get into attacking areas but did not have a dangerous chance on goal. They mustered only two shots on target for the game.

They also caught a bad break when a clear handball in the box by a San Antonio defender was missed in the 44th minute that would’ve resulted in a penalty kick.

“I thought for 60 minutes we played really well,” Lilley said. “We broke their midfield line a lot. If felt we got in with even numbers or more numbers up at times where we could’ve cultivated a few more clear cut chances. The momentum switched 15 to 20 minutes in the second half. Before that it was shaded more our way, but then they got a couple corners and got some sustained pressure.

“We lost a little bit of our rhythm on the ball. When we were playing through the lines in the first half, they were chasing ghosts, and we needed to get back to that. We had a few sequences but not as many in the second half.”

San Antonio’s sustained pressure led to Manley’s late goal. Last week, the Hounds conceded in the 90th minute against Orange County in a 1-1 tie.

Though they did not get a result, Lilley was encouraged by the way they played against a quality opponent and will look to build on it next week at US Open Cup finalist Sacramento Republic FC.

“Tonight I felt there were a lot of good performances and a lot of graft in the group, and that’s what it’s going to take come playoff time,” Lilley said. “We didn’t do it for 90 minutes, but that is the type of game we need. I thought Brimingham was similar. We had a good first half, led 1-0 and then we backed off a little bit.

“Now we know what we need to do. All our players played through lines. We limited the chances and dictated the game. It got away from us in Birmingham, and it got away from us tonight but we have a recipe now, and now we have to dial it in.”