BETHLEHEM, Pa. (July 15, 2017) – The Pittsburgh Riverhounds (5-7-6) nabbed a point on the road for a second straight match, playing Bethlehem Steel FC (8-6-3) to a 1-1 draw at Goodman Stadium.
Notching the lone tally for Pittsburgh was Chevaughn Walsh in the 24th minute, while Bethlehem found its equalizer in the 27th minute off a penalty conversion by James Chambers.
Action opened at a blistering pace with both sides trading chances. Despite being down its leading scorer, Seku Conneh, due to injury and shorthanded across the board with multiple call ups to its parent club, Philadelphia Union, for a friendly against Swansea, Steel FC forced Hounds keeper Keasel Broome to make multiple tough saves early.
Registering his fifth start of the season, Broome stopped a point-blank chance from Yosef Samuel off a corner in the 4th minute and a blistering volley from James Chambers in the 20th minute. The latter save appeared to kick start the Hounds attack with Romeo Parkes first hitting the crossbar from 35 yards out only moments later. Walsh soon followed with a nifty finish to give the Hounds the lead.
Making a nice run down the right side of the pitch, Shannon Gomez made a couple slick moves to create space just inside the box eventually slotting a pass past a host of Steel FC defenders to Walsh. The Jamaican forward wasted little time, one-timing Gomez’s feed for his third goal on the year. The helper for Gomez was his first point as a member of the Hounds.
For Pittsburgh, the lead was short lived though, as Victor Souto was whistled for a tough foul in the box only minutes after the tally. Taking advantage of a turnover by the Hounds in their defensive third, Chambers made a diving attempt to get his head on a cross in, making enough contact with Souto while falling to the ground to draw a penalty.
Chambers converted the penalty by beating Broome to his right despite the keeper guessing correctly on the Steel FC captain’s take.
Knotted at one, the Hounds would take control of possession for the remainder of the half, most notably seeing Corey Hertzog hit the far post with a curling take from the left of goal in the 41st minute.
The second half continued much of the same for the Hounds, as they were able to dominate possession, but could not generate any quality chances on goal. Holding a 56-to-44 percent advantage in possession in the match’s final 45, the Hounds generated only five shots and none on goal.
Overall, both clubs combined for 25 shots, but only six registered on goal (four for Bethlehem, two for Pittsburgh).
The Hounds will look to continue to stay unbeaten on the road in the month of July, as they next head to Rochester to take on the Rhinos (6-3-7) at 6:05 p.m. on Saturday, July 22 at Capelli Sport Stadium. For more information on the Hounds’ next match, visit www.riverhounds.com.
Lineups:
Riverhounds – Keasel Broome – Taylor Washington, Jamal Jack, Tobi Adewole, Shannon Gomez – Romeo Parkes, Danny Earls (Stephen Okai 60’), Victor Souto (Kay Banjo 84’), Kevin Kerr (Kenroy Howell 68’) – Chevaughn Walsh, Corey Hertzog
Subs not used: Trey Mitchell, Gale Agbossoumonde, Mike Green, Jack Thompson
Bethlehem Steel FC – Tomás Romero – Charles Reymann, Hugh Roberts, Matthew Mahoney, Matthew Real – Christopher Wingate (Brenden Aaronson 42’), James Chambers – Santi Moar (Seth Kuhn 84’), Josh Heard, Yosef Samuel (Tiger Graham 73’) – Chris Nanco
Subs not used: Eoin Gawronski, Anthony Brown, Freeman Dwamena, Nykolas Sessock
Scoring Summary:
PGH – Chevaughn Walsh (Shannon Gomez) – 24’
BST – James Chambers (Penalty) – 27’
Misconduct Summary:
PGH – Jamal Jack (Caution) – 34’
BST – Josh Heard (Caution) – 37’
PGH – Danny Earls (Caution) – 43’
PGH – Victor Souto (Caution) – 76’
