Tired Charleston Drop Points At Home

The Battery fell 2-0 to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds at home Saturday night.  After an excellent game in Wilmington Friday, it seems the Charleston squad never fully recovered.  Pittsburgh struck early as an assist from the post in the 6th minute gave Riverhound's Tuttle a golden opportunity and the opening goal of the evening.  The Battery struggled to respond as the first half played out.  Charleston's Nicki Patterson saw an effort go just wide in the 57th but the Battery would continue to rue missed opportunities.  A strong header goal by Pittsburgh's Harada in the 64th minute ended the dispute to the dismay of the Charleston faithful.  Patterson again nearly made the net in the closing minutes with a driven strike from 25 yards.  Unfortunately, GK Gilstrap managed to deny the shot and our boys finished the evening empty-handed.

We would have liked to have taken at least a point from the match, but its not all bad news.  This weekend was the last of our two day-two game fixtures.  Another encouraging note is that we won the game that mattered most (2-0 away @ Wilmington).   The loss to Pittsburgh is unfortunate, but they are in the National Division.  This means we are currently third in the American Division, behind Richmond only by goal differential.  We've eight games remaining (24 points) in the season and five of those are home matches.  Generally we play well at home and should claim most of those points.  Its not all easy sailing as we face league (and division) leaders Orlando City three more times.  There's hard work ahead but a week in between most matches should help.