PITTSBURGH (April 22, 2016) – The Pittsburgh Riverhounds (0-2-1) battled, but could not overcome an early red card to their captain Kevin Kerr as they fell to Orlando City B (1-3-1), 2-1. Romeo Parkes scored the Hounds lone goal in stoppage time, while Tyler Turner tallied both for the away squad.
Coming off a strong performance in Toronto that saw the Hounds battle, Pittsburgh was put in a hole early as Kerr was handed a red card in the 36th minute. Orlando City B quickly capitalized, with Turner netting a tally past goalkeeper to gain an early 1-0 lead.
Prior to Kerr’s departure in the first half, the Hounds had a couple chances to take an early lead and saw Orlando City B receive a booking of their own when Harrison Heath took down Parkes in the sixth minute.
Branson nearly connected with Parkes on a long, high ball in the 22nd minute, but much like later in the contest, Parkes header could not connect on net. Kerr’s foul would come shortly after, as he took down Turner with a tough slide tackle that led to the two-goal scorer staying on the ground for a short amount of time.
Pittsburgh would respond with some sustained pressure to end the first half including a missed free kick by Parkes from 35 yards out. Orlando’s goalkeeper Mark Ridgers held serve though, and finished the match with three saves on the night.
The second half opened with Parkes once again leading the attack for the Hounds. His early work in the middle of the field gave the Hounds a free kick in the 48th minute, but they were unable to capitalize. Connor Branson, playing centerback for the second-straight match tried to reach Parkes, but the latter was unable to put enough on his header to get past Ridgers.
The Hounds would continue to push despite being down a man. Orlando City B though would respond with their first sustained chance of the second half as Hadji Berry found Turner with a cut-back pass that the latter redirected for his second goal of the match in the 67th minute.
Mike Green, who subbed for Stephen Okai in the 60th minute, followed with one of the Hounds best chances of the evening, unleashing a shot from outside the box that flew just over the bar.
Action didn’t pick up again until stoppage time, when Parkes, once again, led an offensive charge eventually resulting in him being fouled in the box. The Jamaican took the penalty himself, and wasted no time firing a shot past Ridgers and recording a goal for the second-straight match.
The Hounds return to action next Wednesday, April 27, at 7 p.m. for their second-straight USL Game of the Week, as they travel to Louisville, Kentucky for a bout against Louisville City FC. Fans can catch all the action on ESPN3.
Line-ups:
Riverhounds – Hunter Gilstrap – Jordan Murrell, Willie Hunt (Alex Harlley 77′), Sergio Campbell, Drew Russell – Stephen Okai (Mike Green 60′), Conor Branson (Zak Boggs 89′), Romeo Parkes, Kevin Kerr (Red Card 36′) – Marshall Hollingsworth (James Bissue 81′) – Corey Hertzog (Isaiah Schafer 75′)
Subs not used: Mauricio Vargas, Karsten Smith
Orlando City B – Mark Ridgers – Tyler Turner, Michael Ambrose, Kyle Callan-McFadden, Devron Garcia – Richmond Laryea (Alejandro Garcia), Johnny Mendoza (Keegan Smith), Harrison Heath (Andrew Ribeiro), Antonio Rocha – Hadji Barry, Bryan Rochez (Michael Cox)
Subs not used: Jake Fenlason, Craig Nitti, Marius Obekop
Officials:
Referee: Drew Fischer – Assistants: Cory Richardson, Joshua Sanders – Fourth Official: Colin Nelson
Scoring Summary:
ORL – Tyler Turner 39′ (Johnny Mendoza)
ORL – Tyler Turner 67′ (Hadji Barry)
PGH – Romeo Parkes 90+’ (Penalty Kick)
Misconduct Summary:
ORL – Harrison Heath (yellow card) 7′
PGH – Kevin Kerr (red card) 36′
Cleveland Brothers “Blue Collar Player of the Game” – Marshall Hollingsworth
Post-Game Quote Sheet
Mark Steffens:
We definitely stepped it up. [Kevin Kerr’s red card] was a bit of a wake up call, but still when you’re down one-nil and you’re a man short, it’s pretty hard to come back when the other team packs it in. And that’s what they did, they put a lot of guys behind the ball and we worked hard, got quite a few good chances and the PK.
We could have easily come out of here with a tie, but we pushed forward since the red card, we pushed an extra guy up, and we were vulnerable in the back. We started with three defenders in the second half, so they had some chances to get behind us and they did, but we actually defended really well with the three. But again, chasing the game a man down is not the easiest thing to do.
I do think the guys really stepped up and played well, it’s too bad a call like that has to change the whole game.
We can’t rest our players, we have to go out there and have our core start. We have a deep enough roster where we can make some changes here and there as we go. It’s not going to be easy. There’s a very difficult road trip ahead of us with Louisville and Charleston on the road with a lot of travel and a tired team, but we’ll work hard and be ready.
It’s a long season. We have 27 games to go and you get on a streak, win three out of four, and you’re right back in it. So, I’m not concerned about the long run to be honest, I’m just concerned about the team trying to get the first one. I think it’s just about getting the monkey off our back.
Romeo Parkes:
[Losing Kerr] is a big loss for us because Kevin is one of our key players. He helps the attack, he helps defend a lot, so we just got to fight for him even when he’s off the field – we just got to fight. It’s difficult for us to [attack] in the middle because they have four defenders to our two, so we have to go wide and hit them inside because they compact the middle.
[Being down] is really difficult for us because the three games we have to chase, it is really not good enough. We just need to step it up more. We have to start a game higher [energy] instead of starting a game low. So, these games we just know we have to step it up more.
Honestly if he didn’t kick my feet [in stoppage time], it would be a goal. So, he kick my feet, I got a penalty and I still finish it. He made it easier for me.
Sergio Campbell:
[The defense] is not a chemistry problem. It’s early in the season, so we still have things to work on. By playing things are going to get better. We played against a good team and we give them credit. Things are going to happen and you just have to move forward and try to work on stuff in practice. It’s only three games, so hopefully things are going to get better.
We just want to play a little bit quicker because they were trying to high-press us as soon as we got the ball – try to close us down. So, if we had been a little bit quicker, we could get out of defensive territory quicker. But when we slow things down and then we get blocked up, you force things long and we weren’t winning our second balls and it was a problem for us.
We are just going to go to the pitch and work on what needs to get better. This is our job, we take it seriously. What’s in the past is in the past. We just have to focus on the next game. It’s all about the next game. This game is already in the rearview mirror, so we’re not going to worry too much. All we can do is just try to learn from what happened in the game – the bad, and take the good also. Move on, that’s all.