OCSC Wins 2-0 in Pittsburgh

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The Pittsburgh Riverhounds were punished for their failure to convert a host of chances as they fell 2-0 to Orange County SC

It was a far from ideal start from the Riverhounds, especially after the pomp and circumstance surrounding the pregame ceremony and Players’ Shield presentation, Ryan Doghman’s cross from the left flank zipping between the Hounds’ back line and goalkeeper Eric Dick, with Brian Illoski sliding in at the back post to give the visitors the lead inside the opening five minutes.

They responded well to the setback, dominating possession and chances in the immediate aftermath, but just couldn’t quite get the final ball to work, with their closest effort coming off a Robbie Mertz cross that was just too high for Babacar Diene to reach.

The play died down for the most part for the next 20 minutes or so, but sparked back into life in the final ten minutes of the frame. It started when Junior Etou went down inside the box under a challenge but was denied a penalty, Robbie Mertz went in high on OC goalkeeper Colin Shuter just outside the area as he was trying to head the ball away and was lucky to escape without a card, Diene’s powerful header forced a smart save from Shuter to push the ball away for a corner, all within the space of five minutes before Mertz again came close as his effort from just inside the box rattled the crossbar with a volley to end the half in exhilarating fashion.

The second half didn’t see any changes to the lineups, nor did it see a change to the run of play, with the Hounds maintaining their control of possession and creating a few chances, but still failing to break down the OC back line with any sort of conviction.

The Hounds did get into the Orange County box on a few occasions, an acrobatic effort from Robbie Mertz was the most spectacular effort, even if it didn’t manage to get on target or even reac the end line, whilst Langston Balckstock’s header in the 75th minute would ultimately be their last chance to salvage something from the game.

That’s because Orange County went right up the other end and after Christian Sorto’s cross went over the head of Pat Hogan and onto the foot of Cameron Dunbar, the Orange County forward took a few touches to take it back past Hogan before slotting past Dick to hit the Hounds against the run of play.

Blackstock did have a chance to crawl something back in stoppage time, but his effort at the back post was well kept out by Shuter with a quick reflex to ensure that Orange County had their shutout and the Riverhounds came away from their home opener empty-handed.

 

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