Someone in the press box said it best. The Hounds are as good as half the teams in the league and as bad as half the teams in the league. He said this after the Hounds managed to place another notch in the Tie column.
Currently the Hounds are in eighth place and have tied five of the seven games they have played so far. It's not that the Hounds are playing bad soccer, part of this most recent tie was due to bad luck, in that David Flavius missed a penalty kick in the 48th minute. Being caught off guard, in that the Kings scored a goal roughly 25 seconds after the Hounds did in the 66th minute of play.
After the game defense men Cody Bragg was quoted as saying "There are good ties and bad ties, this is a bad tie". A sentiment I'm sure the 2,306 in attendance would agree with. Just errors, mental errors seem to be doing the Hounds in.
The game started off fast with a shot on the Hounds goal by Josh Burton. Slowly but surly the Hounds started to build momentum and Jason Kutney recorded his first shot of two on the evening, but the Kings goalie, Jordan James, easily handled it.
Play was choppy all night, with over 40 fouls called on both sides, the first yellow card was issued to Pittsburgh's Greg Chevalier in the 16th minute of play. Over all their were 7 cards issued, 3 to Pittsburgh and 4 to the Kings.
In the 24th minute on a free kick for the Kings, Jeff Hughes would punch the ball into the defensive wall in front of Hounds Goal Terry McNelis's net. Pittsburgh was able to go on the attack in the 31st minute as Mike Apple nearly had a break away, but the ball squirted free and rolled harmlessly into the waiting arms of goal Jordan James.
First blood was drawn by the Cincinnati Kings in the 38th minute on a pretty little corner kick. Jaman Nowaf put the ball into the box. Derek Smith directed it towards the far post and Jack Cummings was able to nod it home for the first and only goal of the half. The Hounds quickly countered attacked though and forced James into a full stretch to deflect Greg Chevalier's shot.
In extra time Pittsburgh had another chance but the shot was flubbed by Derek Mackenzie and rolled harmlessly into Jordan's hands.
The second half got off to a good start for Pittsburgh, since they were rewarded a penality kick in the 49th minute. However David Flavius never looked relaxed at the spot and his shot was easily saved by Jordan. Pittsburgh was able to tie the game in the 56th minute when Gabe Bernstein scored off a corner kick. Cody Bragg was award the assist.
Midfielder Derek MacKenzie ripped a shot at the Kings goal in the 57th minute, but Jordan James went into a full stretch and made a great save. Only to show the shape of things to come when they quickly counterattacked, Jeff Hughes shot sailed over the net however.
In the 64th minute Pittsburgh went ahead on an indirect kick from the top of the box. Cody Bragg touched the ball between the legs of another Hound player and Derek macKenzie banged the ball home.
As I was writing down my notes and the Hounds fans were celebrating the goal, the Kings countered and scored practically off the kick off. Nowaf Jaman got the goal with the assist awarded to John Liersman.
After that neither side had much in the way of an attack.
