It shouldn’t have surprised me, but this game played out almost exactly like City’s Conference Semifinal match against Rochester last season. Just with a more unfortunate result. Rochester played a high line, compressed the game into the middle third of the field, and just waited for the Boys in Purple to make a mistake. City’s heat map really tells the story of the game: lots of the ball in the back and middle third, and very, very little in the final third:

The Hounds nearly went up in the 23′ but were denied thanks to some Greg Ranjitsingh heroics on a double save from what looked like a golden chance for Christian Francois and his quadriceps. The half ended scoreless, though City did try to build some attack in the last five to ten minutes of the opening period.

The second half wasn’t much different from the first, other than the scoring. The Hounds’ Kenardo Forbes hit a hard shot across goal toward Nico Brett that took a deflection and bounced off the far post and over the goal line. Pittsburgh were waiting to hit City on the counter all night, and they finally got their goal after almost 80 minutes. City tried to equalize but just could never crack the Riverhounds defense, and that’s how the game ended.

This really was a game of waiting for the other team to screw up. City had a couple of decent looking chances but couldn’t capitalize on any of them. I’m not sure I’d blame the zero on the scoreboard on finishing as much as I’d blame it on tired legs. Louisville City just didn’t have the intensity to come back and get a point or three once they went down. I’m okay with the game plan of being conservative and not committing numbers forward for fear of playing into Pittsburgh’s hands. City just never had the pace or size to beat the Hounds back line on long balls or crosses, and that’s why they couldn’t score. Schedule congestion finally resulted in a loss.

Numbers:

• Louisville City had a lot of the ball, over 63%, but didn’t have it much in the final third.
• 18 touches inside the Hounds 18 yard box is more than I thought City would have it, to be fair. To City’s credit, they limited the Hounds to 13 touches inside Ranjitsingh’s box.
• Morados passed the ball fairly well, too, 62% in Pittsburgh’s half.
• City took 15 shots to Pittsburgh’s seven, and had five on target to the Hounds’ four.

The result sucks, but it almost felt inevitable, to be honest. It was a close game that was either going to end 0-0 or with a lone goal. For all of City’s possession and shots, only one or two looked like they were going in. Morados are now winless in their last four league matches. There’s no time to fret over it, unfortunately, because we’ve got another game on Saturday against a team that really loves to run in New York Red Bulls. Take an ice bath and get ready.