Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (13-4-8) did not hold back against Ottawa Fury FC (10-5-9) and powered its way to a 4-0 victory on Friday at TD Place Stadium.
The match had it all for the Hounds. A former Ottawa striker potting a tally against his old team. Another striker becoming just the second player in club history to score at least 10 goals in back-to-back seasons. And not to mention a midfield bomb of a goal to cap it all off.
2’ Steevan Dos Santos assisted by Neco Brett
The scoring barrage began with a ball won in the midfield.
Kenardo Forbes (orange arrow) collected a faulty clearance and passed the ball up to Neco Brett (yellow arrow). The forward then shields Ottawa defenders, as Steevan Dos Santos sprints down the middle of the pitch. The Cape Verde native splits the backline, fielding a through-ball from Brett. The rest is left in his right foot, which beats his old team and goalkeeper Callum Irving to the bottom left-hand corner.
11’ Neco Brett assisted by Steevan Dos Santos
For the team’s second goal, Dos Santos (yellow arrow) started things off by winning a header following a goal kick.
The headed ball finds Brett (green arrow), who is surrounded by a couple Ottawa defenders. The key becomes Dakota Barnathan (red arrow). As Barnathan collapses inside, Brett makes a move outside, as the center back becomes off balance. The Kingston, Jamaica native finishes the play from there, striking a ball into the bottom left-hand corner.
34’ Neco Brett assisted by Steevan Dos Santos
For the third tally, it was Ryan James’ (orange arrow) turn to intercept a ball. The outside back sprinted up the left flank to take an attempted cross-pitch pass.
James then sends the ball in to Dos Santos, who lofts the ball to the back post. As the ball approaches the end line, Brett (green arrow) sprints behind the defense and fires the sphere into the cage for his second goal of the game. This tally gave him his second straight season of at least 10 goals with the club – something only Corey Hertzog had achieved.
86’ Sammy Kahsai
Before he sent the ball flying more than 40 yards into the net, Sammy Kahsai made an excellent play at the halfway line.
Making his highlight reel goal possible was his ability to pick the pocket of Ottawa’s Aidan Daniels. Following this takeaway, Kahsai notices Irving off of his line and makes him pay.
Tale of the Tape
The key stat of the match was the Hounds’ six shots on goal to only two takes on target for Ottawa. This advantage propelled the team to its four tallies.
Breaking this down further, Fury FC had just four shots from inside of the 18-yard box. Pittsburgh more than doubled this total, recording nine such shots. With these shot discrepancies, the Hounds earned three points on the road.
