PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Trailing by a goal at the half, history was not on Birmingham Legion FC’s side. After all, The Three Sparks entered Saturday’s contest having lost eight of its ten matches this season when trailing after the opening 45 minutes. Its opponent, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, on the other hand had won seven of its ten matches when leading at halftime.
However, a plucky defensive effort and some shrewd lineup changes in the attack were just enough to go against the narrative as Legion FC fought back for a 1-1 draw to notch a valuable point on the road against its Eastern Conference foe.
“We played really well tonight across the board,” said Birmingham coach Tom Soehn. “It started with our defensive shape and then I thought in our attack we created some really good opportunities. In some ways, we were unfortunate to not come away with more, but when the effort and the play is like that, the results take care of themselves, so I’m happy that we were able to come away with something.”
After playing the role of hero last week against Miami FC, Darwin Matheus once again made his presence felt, providing the assist to fellow-second-half-substitute Stefano Pinho for the equalizing goal in the 79th minute to negate one from Pittsburgh forward Edward Kizza in the first half.
With the draw, Legion FC’s point total in USL Championship play moves up to 42 with four matches remaining.
“I thought we handled their directness really well,” Soehn said of the defensive effort. “We knew once we evened it up that they would go hard for a goal because they needed three points, but we were organized and won a lot of second balls, which is exactly what you need to do against a team like Pittsburgh.”
Pinho’s team-leading eighth goal of the season began from the back with Derek Dodson playing an inch-perfect pass between the lines to find Matheus, who used the outside of his left foot to send a first-time ball to the Brazilian forward. With work still to be done, Pinho cut in from left side of the box before unleashing a shot for the far post that was beyond Pittsburgh goalkeeper Eric Dick’s outstretched arms.
“The ball that Derek played into Darwin was fantastic,” Soehn said of the build-up. “And then Darwin continued it and Pinho took his time to put in a good finish. All of the subs came in to this match and did a good job.”
It was a welcome sight for Soehn and company to finally see a ball go past Dick, who made six saves in a clean sheet performance when the Riverhounds won the first 2024 meeting between these two sides in Birmingham. He appeared to be on his way to doing something similar on Saturday night before Pinho ruined the party.
Following a header off of a set-piece from Kizza in the 22nd minute that gave Pittsburgh the early 1-0 advantage, Birmingham nearly answered back nine minutes later when Kobe Hernandez-Foster whipped in a ball from the left side that Dodson was able to get on the end of, but his header glanced off the cross bar.
Legion FC continued on the attack in the second half with Diba Nwegbo forcing Dick to dive to his right for his first save of the match in the 51st minute. The Pittsburgh goalkeeper’s second was much tougher as he just barely got his fingertips on an Enzo Martinez free header from close range.
“We changed up our formation a little bit,” Soehn said of finding areas to create chances against a Pittsburgh defense that entered Saturday’s match tied for the least amount of allowed goals in the league.
“We brought in Darwin who creates a lot and were a little bit more direct with our backs playing balls into feet and that led to some good opportunities.”
Both teams finished the match with 15 total shots apiece, while Birmingham had a 4-3 advantage in attempts on target. Legion FC also controlled the possession with 57.6% of the ball, but had 59 final third entries to the Riverhounds’ 70, making the split result seem like a fair outcome for both sides.
Matt Van Oekel had two saves on the evening, but his biggest one did not register on the stat sheet. The Legion FC veteran goalkeeper showed off his quick reflexes in the 63rd minute when he dove back to clear a ball off the line after a Pittsburgh cross deflected off of Jake Rufe for what would’ve been an own goal and a 2-0 deficit.
The draw was the first for Birmingham in nine matches, dating back to a 2-2 result against Hartford Athletic at Protective Stadium on August 3.
Match Details
| BOX SCORE | 1ST HALF | 2ND HALF | FINAL |
| BHM (12W – 12L – 6D; 42 PTS) | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| PIT (8W – 10L – 12D; 36 PTS) | 1 | 0 | 1 |
LINEUPS
BHM: Van Oekel – GK, Mensah (Pinho 45′), Rufe, Crognale, Dodson, McCartney (Hamouda 89′), Hernandez-Foster (Perez 83′), Zouhir, Martinez – C, Pasher, Nwegbo (Matheus 67′)
PIT: Dick – GK, Biasi (Cayet 87′), Suber, Osumanu, Hogan, Walti (Etou 87′), Griffin – C, Blackstock, Kizza (Johnson 76′), Jacquesson (Forbes 76′), Mertz (Sample 76′)
GOALS
BHM: Pinho 79′
PIT: Kizza 22′
DISCIPLINE
BHM: McCartney (Yellow) 25′; Nwegbo (Yellow) 33′
PIT: Hogan (Yellow) 72′; Johnson (Yellow) 90+4′
NEXT UP
Due to other results around the league from Saturday night, Legion FC drops to seventh place in the East table despite the result in Pittsburgh, so points are still at a premium for the postseason push. The next chance Birmingham has to gain some ground comes on Sunday, October 6 when it hosts North Carolina FC. Kick-off for that special Fan Appreciation Night match is set for 5 p.m. CT and tickets can be purchased HERE.
