Riverhounds Game Notes and Injury Report: Kenardo Forbes on verge of equaling club’s all time appearances record

File photo courtesy Rachael Kriger

What a way to lead off our game notes for Saturday’s Riverhounds SC vs Louisville City FC clash at Lynn Family Stadium in the Derby City, as Kenardo Forbes is about to reach a significant club milestone.

Additionally, the Hounds do not have anyone listed on the team’s injury report heading into the match, thus Head Coach Bob Lilley pretty much has full roster to select his 18, and starting lineup.

Forbes has done more than enough on the field to earn his “King Kenny” nickname. Now, the King is on the cusp of becoming the Riverhounds’ longest-serving monarch.

Forbes has been the centerpiece of the most successful six-year run in club history since his arrival in 2018, and the next time he steps on the field in a match — very likely this Saturday at Louisville — the Jamaican midfielder will equal the club record with his 195th appearance in all competitions, tying the mark held for nearly 20 years by David Flavius.

The individual accolades accumulated by Forbes, now in his seventh season in Pittsburgh, are many. The USL Championship and Riverhounds’ all-time assist leader has been a First Team or Second Team All-USL Championship selection every year with the Hounds, and in 2019, he was one of three finalists for the league’s Player of the Year.

The Hounds face Louisville in a battle of perennial Eastern Conference contenders. One of the two teams has finished with the East’s best record in four of the past five seasons — the Hounds in 2019 and 2023, and Louisville in 2020 and 2022.

Here’s PSN’s John Krysinsky’s Match Preview and the Game Notes are listed below.

Preview: Winless Hounds look to ‘go after it’ as they face revamped rival Louisville City FC in search of goals

GAME NOTES – #LOUvPIT

• The teams also have the Championship’s two longest playoff streaks, with Louisville qualifying for the past nine seasons and the Hounds reaching the post season for the past six.
• Pittsburgh has had success on the road against Louisville under Bob Lilley. Since 2018, the Hounds have a 4-2-1 record in the Bluegrass State, which includes a 1-0 win in the teams’ last meeting on July 12, 2023.
• The Hounds are celebrating their 25th-anniversary season, making them the third-oldest pro club in USL behind only the Charleston Battery and Richmond Kickers, both founded in 1993.
• The Riverhounds won the USL Championship Players’ Shield in 2023 with a league-leading 19-5-10 record, and head coach Bob Lilley was named Coach of the Year for the second time in the USL Championship and sixth time as a pro head coach.
• With an appearance in today’s match, Kenardo Forbes will match the Hounds’ record with 195 appearances in all competitions, tying former St. Lucian international David Flavius, who played for the Hounds from 1999 to 2006. Forbes will reach the record in his seventh season with the team; he is the only player remaining with the club from 2018, Lilley’s first season in charge.
• Robbie Mertz became the 17th player to record 100 appearances with the club in the season opener at New Mexico, in addition to being only the fourth Pittsburgh-area
native to hit that milestone.
• Danny Griffin was named the Hounds’ new captain for the 2024 season. The fifth-year pro has not missed a league match — regular season or postseason — in his career between Pittsburgh and a brief stint with Huntsville in MLS Next Pro.
• Defender Dani Rovira is the second-most tenured Hounds player entering his sixth season with the team. The versatile Colombian has had five assists in each of the past two seasons, and his 13 career assists are the most by a defender in team history.
• In 205 matches played under Lilley in all competitions, the Hounds are 106-44-55 and have allowed just 190 goals, an average of 0.93 goals per game.

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Match info

Riverhounds vs. Louisville City FC
Date: Saturday, March 23
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Lynn Family Stadium, Louisville, Ky.
Odds: Hounds +230 / Draw +230 / Louisville +105 (FanDuel)
TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh
Streaming: ESPN+
Live statistics: USL Championship Match Center
Live updates: @RiverhoundsSC on X (Twitter)
Match hashtags: #LOUvPIT and #HOUNDTAHN