Riverhounds settle for draw with Detroit after disallowed goal, defensive lapse

In their previous two home matches, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds searched for a second goal but couldn’t muster one and hung on for one-goal victories.

They thought they got that all-important second goal late in the first half of Saturday’s game with Detroit City, but Jelani Peters’ header was waved off when the referee called a foul on Shane Weidt away from the play.

It turned out they needed that second goal this time because a defensive lapse in the 70th minute led to a Maxi Rodriguez goal and eventually a 1-1 draw at Highmark Stadium, snapping the Riverhounds’ six-game winning streak at home across all competitions to start the season.

They are on a three-game winless streak after a loss at Tampa Bay and a draw at Miami the previous two weeks.

“We had a good crowd here, and they should’ve been going home with three points,” Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley said. “It’s disappointing. You don’t get the points back. Nine times out of 10 this year we would be able to see that game through, but tonight we weren’t able to get the job done and that’s on us.”

With the draw, the Riverhounds (7-3-3) stayed one point behind Detroit (7-2-4) in the USL Championship standings. Both games in the season series were 1-1 draws.

Albert Dikwa scored in the 30th minute on a feed by Luis Argudo to give the Riverhounds a 1-0 lead.

After the goal, the Riverhounds kept the pressure on, and it led up to the controversial disallowed goal.

Kenardo Forbes bent in a corner kick, and Peters beat Detroit keeper Nate Steinwascher to the ball, heading it into the net, but referee Luis Arroyo blew his whistle and called a foul.

Lilley said the officials said they whistled Weidt for pushing a Detroit player.

“We had a perfectly good goal disallowed,” Lilley said. “It’s frustrating because it can be a physical play one minute and then a phantom call is called on a loose ball in the box. You’re never going to convince me that’s not anybody’s ball. But it was the cards we were delt. We had plenty of chances to put the game away in the second half and we didn’t capitalize. We had clear chances that we needed to convert and we didn’t.”

Another frustrating moment for Lilley came on Detroit’s goal, which was set up by a long diagonal pass to Deklan Wynne.

Wynne had plenty of open space and found Rodriguez in the middle of the box for the equalizer.

It was the first goal the Riverhounds had conceded at Highmark Stadium since the first half of the home opener against Hartford Athletic on March 19 and ended a five-game shutout streak at home across all competitions

“On a scale of one to 10, that was a 10 in terms of a defensive mental lapse,” Lilley said of the Detroit goal. “We didn’t account for a wing back, which was disappointing, because it was well documented throughout the week that we couldn’t get caught watching the ball because they were going to hit a diagonal pass to the wing back.

“We didn’t do our jobs in that moment. He was in so clean that he had all day to pick out a runner. Their runner came from midfield, and our center midfielders didn’t track back into the box. He just beat them into the box.”

The Riverhounds controlled possession following the tying goal but never mustered a dangerous scoring chance.

“We had 20 minutes, and I would’ve liked to have seen us ferocious in those last 20 minutes,” Lilley said. “There has to be more energy. We have to find it from somewhere to put an all-out press in those last 20 minutes to force something over the goal line. We got a couple balls in the box, but we didn’t get a clear look during that time. That’s not the response we’re looking for late in the game, home or away.”

The Riverhounds travel to Charleston and Rio Grande Valley the next two weeks. They’ll look to get their first road victory since a 4-3 win at FC Tulsa on April 9. They’ve gone 0-3-1 in their last four road games.