THE Hogges must take advantage of their home games to get the maximum points, said Hogges president Shaun Goater this week.

Goater was speaking ahead of the match against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds set for Saturday evening at the National Sports Centre.

"We have three games in a row at home and we have to take advantage of them ¿ we must turn the stadium into the Hogges' fortress and make it very difficult for any team to play here," added Goater.

Two weeks ago the Hogges won their home opener 2-0 against the Wilmington Hammerheads after going down 6-0 in the first game of the season away to the Charlotte Eagles.

Next Saturday the Hogges take on the Crystal Palace out of Baltimore for their third home game before flying out to Western Mass at the end of the month.

And with the Riverhounds having a tough start to the season the Hogges are ideally placed to get the three points.

While Saturday's match will only be the third for the Hogges this season, the Riverhounds will be playing their sixth match ¿ five of which have been away from their home at the Chartiers Valley Stadium. So far Pittsburgh have only managed to secure one point when they drew 1-1 with last season's champions Harrisburg City Islanders last weekend.

And Pittsburgh will also be tired when they take on Bermuda on Saturday as they will have played Western Mass last night and then forced to get up early this morning to get to Boston to catch the flight to Bermuda today.

Riverhounds head coach Gene Klein said of his team's tough start to the season: "We have already played four games and then we play Western Mass on Thursday night. Then we have to get up at 4 a.m. to get to Boston for the flight to Bermuda. Our schedule is pretty loaded on the front end. Eight out of our first nine games are away matches.

"That makes it pretty rough but we have to do our best to deal with it. The players understood what they would be confronted with going into the season."

Pittsburgh didn't play in the USL last season as the team was sold and took a hiatus. But Klein said he was very happy with the response from the fans during their only home match this season.

"We had over 3,000 fans ¿ it was a great atmosphere and it was terrific to be playing in Pittsburgh. The fans there have shown there is an interest in the professional game."

Klein said there had been much work in getting the team off the ground after the sale last year. "We only have five players who were with us from two years ago. Everyone else is new and we have a number of rookies. It can be tough ¿ we are a bit like an expansion team ¿ we are starting from scratch. New players, new office and new staff. It has been a challenging time and we are working hard to make it successful."

Goater said if Bermuda can win these three home games then psychologically it will give the players a boost.

"It will get the season off to a good start ¿ we have to capitalise on our home games. If we do it will get the players thinking that we can do something this year and improve on last season. Also it will move us up the table which is what you want at the start of the season. We have to take advantage of Pittsburgh playing a lot of their early season matches away from home. We had a harsh start to the league last time. With our home games we know the field which is faster than many we will be playing on. It will take a visiting team a while to adjust to that. We know the pitch and how we want to play. I want teams who come to play us in Bermuda saying to themselves 'I am not relishing going to the Hogges'. We want teams to find it difficult to play here. We want a fortress."

Getting the maximum points at home is also important in that the Hogges find it difficult playing on the road, said Goater.

"When we go away we find it difficult to get points," he said adding the mindset is often that the players are happy to score away from home even though they get beat.

"That is our thinking and we have to change that. We have to make sure that when we play away from home the other team knows they are in for a game. It doesn't have to be pretty. We have to learn to keep ourselves in the game ¿ that is something we have to tighten up on and it is something our players have to learn ¿ go out and win 1-0. Remember that Arsenal team from years ago which used to win 1-0. Everyone called them 'boring Arsenal' but they won at the end. Three points is three points."