MONTREAL – FC Montreal won 4-2 against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds Sunday, on the synthetic field at Stade Saputo.
The Bleu-blanc-noir scored four goals, a first this season, to earn the win.
In the first minutes, on an intercepted pass in the offensive zone, forward Romario Williams found his strike partner Anthony Jackson-Hamel behind the defence. All alone, Jackson-Hamel took a low shot to the right side to open the score in the 7th minute.
The Riverhounds replied right away. Vini Dantas sent a low cross into the box for Boris Zivanovic, who beat goalkeeper Eric Kronberg in the 15th minute.
In the 47th minute, defender Zachary Sukunda went deep towards the right corner before cutting back in. He passed to midfielder Marco Dominguez who took a strong shot from outside the box. The ball hit the crossbar before crossing the line and giving the lead back to Montreal.
“I don’t score often, but today everything worked,” said Marco Dominguez. “I saw Marco Donadel’s goal last night and yes, I wanted to do the same thing. At the position we play in, opportunities always come from far. This week’s work paid off and we scored many goals.”
However, Pittsburgh leveled the score again in the 57th minute. Rob Vincent didn’t miss his chance from the penalty spot after a foul by defender Janouk Charbonneau in the box.
In the 72th minute, Montreal took the lead for the third time in the game. Winger Frédéric Lajoie-Gravelle started a counter-attack. After dribbling in the offensive zone, his pass found forward Charles Joly in the box. Joly dribbled passed the defender before passing in front of goal. The keeper partially stopped the ball, but winger Alessandro Riggi scored on the rebound.
“An attacking role is to sense these opportunities,” said Alessandro Riggi. “On my goal, I just continued, stayed in the box and the ball came to my feet. From there, we got a lot of momentum and got the job done.”
Riggi pushed again in the 89th minute. Moving up the right flank, he passed forward to Anthony Jackson-Hamel who, alone in front of the keeper, scored again on a low shot.
“It was a difficult beginning of the season with only a few opportunities,” said head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “But the more we moved forward in the season, the more chances we created. Today, the game was more balanced and we were successful in attack.”
FC Montreal kept their lead to win for a second time this season and will play its next game Wednesday at 6:30pm against Saint Louis FC, on the synthetic field at Stade Saputo.
LINEUPS
FC Montreal: Eric Kronberg, Janouk Charbonneau (Hassoun Camara 61’), Mélé Temguia, Wandrille Lefèvre* (Jems Geffrard 61’), Zachary Sukunda, Mastanabal Kacher, Marco Dominguez, Fabio Morelli (Frédéric Lajoie-Gravelle 70’), Alessandro Riggi (Zakaria Messoudi 90’), Romario Williams* (Charles Joly 70’), Anthony Jackson-Hamel
MLS players
Subs: David Paulmin, Hassoun Camara*, Jems Geffrard, Nazim Belguendouz, Frédéric Lajoie-Gravelle, Zakaria Messoudi, Charles Joly
Pittsburgh Riverhounds: Calle Brown, Willie Hunt (Stephan Okai 46’), Anthony Arena, Sterling Flunder, Fejiro Okiomah, Rob Vincent, Danny Earls, Lebo Moloto (Drew Russell 77’), Boris Zivanovic (Kevin Kerr 46’), Matt Dallman (Mike Green 86’), Vini Dantas (Miro Cabrilo 60’)
Subs: Ryan Hulings, Drew Russell, Kevin Kerr, Stephan Okai, Miro Cabrilo, Mike Green, Seth C’deBacca
GOALS
MTL: Anthony Jackson-Hamel 7’
PIT: Boris Zivanovic 15’
MTL: Marco Dominguez 47’
PIT: Rob Vincent 57’
MTL: Alessandro Riggi 72’
MTL: Anthony Jackson-Hamel 89’
CAUTIONS
MTL: Alessandro Riggi 72’
MTL: Jems Geffrard 90’
