Takeaways and Player Grades: Focused Riverhounds did enough in ‘comfortable’ 1-0 win against the Lights

The primary goal and what matters most to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the final stretch of the regular season, is finishing strong and coming away with the full three points in every match.

On Sunday night, the Hounds accomplished that mission for the second straight week, putting themselves in position to still make a run at finishing in the top four of the Eastern Conference.

Riverhounds shut out the Lights, 1-0, to keep pace in Eastern Conference race

Pittsburgh made sure they came out carrying play and dictating tempo from the start against an opponent who traveled through a few time zones and had issues with travel as the match had to be moved back one day.

Generating a first half goal in the first half hour — was not a problem.

However, finding the second goal was a bit of a challenge.

Because of this, Las Vegas was always one big moment away from equalizing, but the Hounds were highly organized with outstanding individual and collective defensive play which helped secure a needed victory.

After the match, some of the typical routines were thrown off a bit.

For one thing, Head Coach Bob Lilley lost his voice, so he deferred to someone he joked with the media is more than capable and much smarter than him, his assistant coach, Rob Vincent.

Vincent has always handled his interview sessions eloquently as a player and on this night, it was no exception.

When asked about some of the off-field distractions after a contentious and controversial end to their win at Hartford last Saturday to having to wait a day to play travel-challenged Las Vegas, Vincent shared that the team kept its eyes on the prize.

“The message all week was to keep our heads on training, remain focused on (facing) Las Vegas. Gave a good account for ourselves and kept on moving forward,” Vincent said.

Sure enough, the Hounds did just enough and picked up a very critical three points.

Hounds Personnel, Tactics and Formation

The biggest lineup change included a switch a goalkeeper, with Jacob Randolph earning his first league start of the season.  The second-year pro has patiently waited for the opportunity, as assistant coach Rob Vincent pointed out after the match, having been over two months since his last real, live game action the Jägermeister Cup round-robin.

Lilley used all five possible substitutions too, bringing on Illal Osumanu, Bertin Jacquesson, Chase Boone, Brigham Larsen along with Jackson Walti who saw his first action after sitting out for a few weeks.

 

Match Takeaways

Ready out of the gates again — with Lots of Pressure and lots of Possession 

The Hounds started the match and consistently brought waves of pressure as they held significant advantages in crosses (16-0 in the first half), shots (8-2) and corners (5-0) in the first half.

Thought Vincent pointed out that they were content at times to play patiently, but they started to move up the flanks, especially on the left side, where Junior Etou was getting into spaces and felt comfortable in 1v1 situations.

Etou’s first advance came when he combined with Robbie Mertz to get to the end line, but his low cross was smothered by Lights goalie Raiko Arozarena.

That early move by Etou signaled what was to come, as Mertz played him through again in the 28th minute. The Hounds wing back cut toward the goal before being tripped by the sliding challenge of Younes Boudadi, causing referee Amin Hadzic to point immediately to the spot.

Williams took it from there, stepping up to score his second penalty conversion of the season.

The Hounds limited a what looked like a sluggish and weary Las Vegas squad that was having trouble finding its spots in the first half.

The early gangbuster starts have been a pretty consistent theme in recent matches — even in the club’s two losses at Tampa Bay and against Louisville.

Here’s a closer look at this form in the previous four matches:

• At Tampa Bay, Charles Ahl scored in the second minute.
• At Oakland, Augi Williams buried his first of two in the fourth minute.
• Against top-running Louisville, the Hounds dictated terms through the first half hour in a match where chances were hard to find on both sides. That match taught the club a harsh lesson in managing moments, despite tilting the field in its favor, they came up short, 2-0, allowing a pair of goals when stretched out and compromised.  Pittsburgh held all the edges in the stats column that night (possession battle (63/37), doubled up on shots (14-7, 4-4 on target) and held a big advantage on crosses (33-6) and corners (7-3) but didn’t manage the big moments.
• At Hartford, Charles Ahl scored another early goal in the 3rd minute.

It appears that the squad starts most every match carrying an aggressive approach and they’re playing with real purpose.

This will be something to watch in the final four matches.

The Jet Came In Fast and Furious

In his third season in Pittsburgh, Etou, who spent much of his career before he came to Pittsburgh as a ball-winning, tough-nosed defensive midfielder, emerged last season as force on the width as an outside back/winger.

In fact, Etou was given the nickname ‘The Jet” by the Hounds’ coaching staff for his energy, effort and ability to create havoc with explosive bursts when getting forward into space.  In 2024, Etou was a key playmaker for the Hounds, at one point, getting fouled in the box and setting up penalty kick goals and chances three different times.

Riverhounds Notebook: ‘The Jet’ Junior Etou has become ‘a problem’ for defenders in newfound role on left wing

On Sunday night — the Jet was flying around causing problems for Las Vegas and drew his first penalty in the box this season.

“Especially since I’ve been in Pittsburgh, I always like to play like that,” Etou admitted after Sunday’s match.

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This season, Etou’s been part of a rotation with Luke Biasi and Perrin Barnes. As a result, through midseason, his role changed to coming off the bench and starting occasionally, making nine starts in 22 league appearances this season.  In fact, before last week’s start at Hartford, Etou had been exclusively coming off the bench regularly with his last start coming in early June.

With Barnes out with an injury, the Congolese international has stepped up in recent weeks.

On Sunday, Etou had nine defensive contributions, won 11 of 13 duels, played 11 balls into the box and had four touches in opposition box.

Pittsburgh attacked from the width, especially on the left side, with Etou creating numerous opportunities breaking behind the back line to cut back a few passes and send a pair of low shots that forced Las Vegas keeper Raiko Arozarena to come to near post to deny any further danger.

This culminated with his burst into the box after receiving a well-played ball in stride from Robbie Mertz, catching Lights’ defender Younes Boudadi in a compromised position.

“I have a good relationship with Robbie (Mertz), now, so I’ll make a run on to the ball, and see the defender come back to me, and made my run, I got my right leg out and I know the defender can’t touch the ball, and he fouled me,” Etou explained.

When Barnes returns, the club will have added options and depth in a position that requires a solid rotation of players.

Unlike last season, when Etou had most of his success in the first half of the campaign, then slowed down a bit toward the end with some nagging injuries, it appears that he’s just getting revved up for a strong finish this season.

One thing we know we’ll see from Etou, as that as long as he’s out there, every chance he’s going to get to get into the box, he’s going to come in fast and furious.

Vincent on Lineup Depth: “We knew they were ready”

With Jackson Walti and Perrin Barnes being out the lineup the past few matches, putting Etou and central midfielder Bradley Sample into the starting lineup, plus Jacob Randolph getting the nod in goal, the Hounds showed that they can dip deeper into the rotation and get solid performances each of those players in key matches late in the season.

“We found ourselves in stretch in the middle of the season where the lineup was pretty much the same,” Vincent said.

“Now, we’ve found ourselves in a position where Perrin and Jackson both went down.  We knew Brad was ready. We knew Junior, from what he did last year though he hasn’t played as much as he would have liked, but we knew they were ready. For some reason or another, we didn’t rotate as much in the middle of the season. But they’ve come in and done brilliantly. Brad hit the ground running. Junior’s looked like his dangerous self. And, Jacob, the challenge was going to be, to come in a little cold, and really happy for him to get his first clean sheet.”

‘Took the Foot Off the Gas a Little”

The Riverhounds were dominant on the ball throughout the first half (64 percent possession), which was a good thing, but once they took the lead, they couldn’t find a second goal despite some decent, but not consistent, quality chances.

“The challenge for us when we get ahead, even when it’s nil-nil, to continue to create quality chances. Add to our lead when we can,” Vincent explained.

There’s clear evidence that the Hounds have been better as a possession team at times this season but still have to know when to push the tempo a bit more and keep opponents on their heels.

“We were a little too content to possess at times,” Vincent added.

“It’s about finding that balance. We also don’t want to keep sending balls forward and lose possession. You want to find a rhythm, but you don’t want to drop so far back that you lose your intensity. This is something we’ve been trying to improve all year. At the beginning of the season, we struggled to get ahead in games.  Now, we’re getting ahead in games. Now the next step, with four games to go, is to get ahead and find that second or third goal.

On that note, the Hounds are the only team in the USL Championship that hasn’t scored three goals in a match this season.

There’s no doubt the Hounds left goals out there in this match where they had 36 crosses, 19 shots (six on target) and according to Footystats.org they were calculated with 2.19 Expected Goals (XG) for the match.

Instead of getting goal to put the match away, Las Vegas found its way back in the second half, as the Hounds started to sit back a bit deeper.

“We face good teams every week. They’re going to have their moments too, but proud of the guys tonight. We limited their chances, for the most part.  Late, it didn’t feel comfortable at the time, since (the lead) was only a goal, but when you look back, overall, it was pretty comfortable.”

The Hounds cannot afford to take the foot off the gas against teams that are in better form than the Lights, who needed some time to grow and eventually start to get forward with some purpose, which resulted in forcing Jacob Randolph into making four saves.

Riverhounds Player Grades

Starting XI 

31	J. Randolph	GK — 7 — Four saves. 1st League Clean Sheet.  Wasn’t tested much in the first half, but was up to the task in the second.
23	G. Vacter	DF — 7 — created the most chances (4) in the match.  Won 9/15 duels.  Missed big chance at the end when ball came right to him on redirected corner.
5	S. Suber	DF — 7 — seven defensive contributions, won 5/8 duels
16	B. Ydrach	DF — 7 — won 5/9 duels, took a few shots, was fouled a couple times.
13	L. Biasi	MF — 6.5 — had five passes into final third, created three chances — was active both ways on right side
8	J. Etou 80‎‘‎	MF — 8.6 — probably his best performance of the season. He was a wrecking crew in the first half culminating with getting fouled in the box. Plus had nine defensive contributions, won 11/13 duels, played 11 balls into the box and had four touches in opposition box.
2	D. Griffin (C)	MF — 7 — in a match where the Hounds coaches thought they were a little methodical at times, Griffin did good job in extending possessions especially in first 60 minutes.  Created a pair of chances, won 5/6 duels along with 11 passes into the final third.
15	B. Sample 80‎‘‎	MF — 6.5 — pairing up with Griffin in starting lineup as central midfielders, has done his part in covering two-way play.  Won 6/6 duels, drew a few fouls and added three recoveries and defensive contributions, but missed on his best chance early in the 2nd half.
9	A. Williams 30‎‘‎86‎‘‎	FW — 7.5 — This was 90-minute, workmanlike effort that the Hounds can count on from their primary target man, that included a well-struck penalty.  Had a few additional served balls in that he couldn’t work any magic with, some of it was timing was off and some of it was inability to get quality first touch.
12	C. Ahl 72‎‘‎	FW — 6 — created one chance, had shot off target, but just 17 passes — quieter performance for the first-year pro
14	Mertz 72‎‘‎	FW — 6.5 — of 43 touches — just one in opposition box. Was very creative at times — pulled off a backheel in transition and a Maradona to generate and extend chances.

Reserves 

1	E. Dick	DNP
6	M. Broughton	DNP
17	B. Larsen 86‎‘‎	N/R — came on late again and was nearly in the spot on end of Biasi cross — but denied by solid defensive play
28	I. Osumanu 80‎‘‎	N/R –
42	J. Walti 80‎‘‎	N/R – good to see Walti back on the field in game action after missing a few matches
7	Boone 72‎‘‎	N/R –
10	Jacquesson 72‎‘‎	N/R