The Pittsburgh Riverhounds will want to forget Wednesday night’s match against FC Montreal for a long time.
The Riverhounds (3-14-4), who seemingly looked like they were improving the past two weeks with a win over the Wilmington Hammerheads and a draw with Louisville City FC, were trampled over by FC Montreal (3-18-1), suffering a 4-1 defeat.
The team were certainly without leadership on the pitch, as Kevin Kerr was not able to make the game due to travel visa issues. Also not on the pitch were Lebo Moloto for yellow card accumulation and Mike Green for his red card from the LCFC match. Seemingly, the only veteran presence the Riverhounds had were defender Willie Hunt and forward Corey Hertzog.
Head coach Dave Brandt also changed things up in the starting lineup, moving players around. While Mauricio Vargas started again in goal, his defense was shifted around.
In the midfield, Brandt started Danny Earls and Rodrigo Saravia next to each other and started Stephen Okai, Duwayne Ewart and Cristian Martinez in front of them. The lone natural forward was Hertzog.
With all the switches, the Riverhounds went down early in the match. Montreal scored three unanswered goals from Alessandro Riggi (1’), Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla (11’) and Anthony Jackson-Hamel (26’). It wasn’t until the 41’ minute that the Riverhounds got on the board with a goal from Hertzog. Montreal finished their scoring campaign in the second half with a 75’ minute goal from Nevello Yoseke.
The Riverhounds gave the opposition room to score again when Barson was given the red card for a two-footed tackle in the 78’ minute. Before him, Montreal’s Marco Dominguez (38’) and Aron Mkungilwa (42’) received yellow cards, and the Riverhounds’ Sergio Campbell received a yellow card in the 74’ minute.
The Riverhounds will have a chance for redemption against the Bethlehem Steel FC at Highmark Stadium on Saturday, August 13. The match will have a kickoff of 7 p.m.
