'Struggling' Riverhounds lose at home to Indy Eleven

For about 25 minutes following Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Indy Eleven, Pittsburgh Riverhounds coach Bob Lilley stood on the field at Highmark Stadium with his team huddled around him.

Lilley said there were some pointed words, in what was very much a one-way conversation, because some of the same problems that have plagued the team all year reared their ugly head again.

The Hounds made mental mistakes that led to both of Indy’s goals and failed to capitalize on glorious scoring chances.

It equaled a fourth consecutive game without a win in USL Championship play for the Hounds (3-5-4), and they lost more ground in the Eastern Conference standings. With just over a third of the season played, they are in 10th place.

“Other teams are fighting even if they don’t have their ‘A’ stuff and finding goals, but doing everything to keep the ball out of the net, and I see us giving up bad goals consistently now,” Lilley said. “It’s not a good recipe when you are giving up goals against the run of play and we’re giving up goals because we’re not tracking. And offensively, we’ve been poor taking our chances no matter how good our play has been. We’re not working goalkeepers hard enough. We’re struggling right now. There’s no hiding that.”

Home losses have been rare in Lilley’s tenure, but through the first six home league matches this season, the Hounds are 2-2-2. Last season, the Hounds lost only one league match at home, which was against Indy (7-4-2).

Josh O’Brien scored on a power header off a corner kick by Aedan Stanley in the 23rd minute for Indy’s first goal.

The second goal came shortly after the second half whistle blew, when Sebastain Guzenatti finished off a cross by Augi Williams.

Lilley saw both goals as preventable, which put the Hounds in too big of a hole to overcome.

“We knew set pieces would be a problem,” Lilley said. “We talked about it all week. It was the first thing on the board tonight. To me those are mental errors.

“To be honest, the second goal was more frustrating, disappointing and costly than the first one. I thought we played well enough that we could score two in the second half, but we give up one right away because we don’t chase back. They outworked us down the field. We’re a minute into the second half and we’re not prepared.”

Danny Griffin scored in the 57th minute to cut the lead in half, but too many other missed opportunities thwarted any comeback attempt.

Griffin put in a low shot that took a deflection before hitting the crossbar. The Hounds put through several threatening balls that Indy keeper Hunter Sulte handled. Late in the game, Emmanuel Johnson had a glorious look at an open net, but his volley from about eight yards out went sailing over the goal.

“We have to lead the league in missed chances inside the six-yard box,” Lilley said. “We have a well-worked ball back to Danny Griffin. It hits the frame, and I don’t know if Kaz (Sterling) tipped it or not, but both (Sterling) and (Edward) Kizza have both hit the bar or went over it from two or three yards. Kenny (Forbes) missed one from a yard a couple weeks ago. We have to take our chances. We had a few on the goal line that we’re all standing around and we need to force over the line.”

Riverhounds Academy player and Fox Chapel junior Pablo Linzoain made his professional debut as a substitute in the 90th minute. Linzoain, 17, signed a USL Academy contract with the first team May 17.

The Hounds will have a tough test when they travel to conference leader Charleston Battery next Saturday.

In the meantime, the Hounds will continue to try to cure their ills.

“Winning teams find ways to get the job done and we’re taking shortcuts and making excuses,” Lilley said. “You can’t keep conceding goals in the manner we’re conceding them. I think we have to be fitter, so we’ll look at that and figure out how we can get them fitter.

“That shouldn’t be a problem at this point of the season, but I don’t think we’re working hard enough. That means we either have to get fitter, but it’s also not fitness when it happens at the beginning of a half. That’s focus and discipline. Top teams have focus and discipline and we haven’t had that this year consistently enough.”