The Pittsburgh Riverhounds defeated the Montreal Impact 3-1 to clinch a playoff spot and eliminate the Montreal eleven from post season play in the last regular season game for both teams. Goals by Welton, Paul Dougherty and Phil Karn, paced the Riverhounds to a come from behind victory over the Impact. George Papandreou scored the lone goal for Montreal.
After playing what was probably their best half of the season, the Impact collapsed and allowed the visiting Riverhounds to score three unanswered goals. The first half saw the Impact dominate the play both offensively and defensively. Papandreou caught many Pittsburgh players by surprise when he lobbed a pass from Mauro Biello over the head of Riverhounds keeper Randy Dedini to score the first goal of the game at the 8th minute. The Riverhounds played very nervously for the next few minutes allowing Montreal several chances. Papandreou, who was named second star of the game, had a great chance in the 15th minute when he headed a great pass from Kostas Tsironis just wide. Papandreou had at least 3 more good chances in the half but was denied by the strong play of Dedini.
The Riverhounds settled down a bit towards the end of the half but could not convert. Impact midfielder Mauro Biello had perhaps the best chance of the half but his shot at the 27th minute went wide.
In the second half the Riverhounds came out flying. Welton had several chances early including in the 49th minute when his dangerous shot was deflected out by Impact defender Patrick Diotte. The Riverhounds started to control the play and scored the tying goal in the 61st minute when Welton was fed a pass by John Jones and let go a weak shot that fooled Impact keeper Greg Sutton. The goal seemed to deflate the Impact who started to play in a more disorganized way. In the 78th minute, Paul Dougherty scored what was to be the winning goal when he let go a low blast from 30 yards out that went into the bottom left corner of the net.
Desperate to equalize, the Impact made two quick substitutions but could not get the attack organized. Riverhounds forward Phil Karn took advantage of the fact that all the Impact defenders were helping out the attack and scored in injury time after his teammate David Flavious had hit the crossbar.
After the game Dougherty simply said, "We thought we could win this game. We had to be patient." In the Impact locker room, player coach Nick De Santis thanked all his players for their hard work in what was a very difficult season. Papandreou who was visibly upset said, "It was our game and we lost it. Everybody has to look in the mirror and criticize themselves. If you play a game like this you have to be better than yourself and we weren't."
The Impact is now done for the season. An announcement on whether they will return next year is expected in the next few weeks.
Lineups:
Montreal: 26 Greg Sutton (GK), 7 Nicola Corneli, 8 John Limniatis (sub. 18 Gaspare Borsellino 87th min), 12 Patrick Diotte, 15 Patrick Leduc (sub. 9 Niall Thompson 80th min), 4 Nick De Santis (captain), 13 Lloyd Barker, 17 Patrice Bernier, 2 Kostas Tsironis, 20 Mauro Biello, 16 George Papandreou. Substitutes not used: 1 Paul Shepherd (GK), 6 Milan Kojic, 10 Darko Kolic, 19 Sunny Nwachukwu.
Pittsburgh: 0 Randy Dedini (GK), 6 Nick Terlecky (sub. 13 David Flavious 60th min.), 21 Michael Green, 26 Brian Johnson, 8 Mario Gori, 4 Gary Depalma (sub. 14 Liedy Klotz, 66th min.), 7 Henry Gutierrez, 25 Paul Dougherty (sub. 22 Ben Garry 90th min.), 3 John Jones, 11 Welton (sub. 20 Jaman Tripoli 84th minute), 10 Mike Apple (sub. 2 Phil Karn 72nd min.). Substitutes not used: 23 T.J. Hannig (GK), 15 David Wright.
Cautions: Montreal-Diotte (26); Pittsburgh-Depalma (29), Welton (45), Johnson (51)
Ejections: Montreal-Corneli (90); Pittsburgh-none.
Goals: Montreal-Papandreou (8); Pittsburgh-Welton (61), Dougherty (78), Karn (90).
Three stars of the game: 1) Dougherty, 2) Papandreou, 3) Welton
Attendance: Not announced but estimated at 2,500.
Conditions: Warm and dry.
