COLUMBUS, Ohio – Brad Knighton did everything he could to give the New England Revolution a fighting chance in Sunday night’s visit to MAPFRE Stadium.
The Revs goalkeeper matched his career high with seven saves – including many of the spectacular variety – but Ola Kamara still managed to break through twice to hand Columbus Crew SC a 2-0 victory and snap New England’s three-game winning streak in the process.
“He kept us in it,” head coach Jay Heaps said of Knighton’s performance. “Columbus played well tonight, and Brad had to make some saves, and Brad kept us in the game even up until the end.
“I thought if we’d been able to get a goal in the first half – a couple times when Juan (Agudelo) was in, when Lee (Nguyen) was in – it may have been a different story. But we didn’t capitalize and we needed Brad to keep us alive.”
Knighton was sharp from the start, pushing Mohammed Saeid’s long-range laser over the bar in the eighth minute, then tipping a similar Justin Meram blast off the crossbar in the 30th minute.
But perhaps Knighton’s best save didn’t even show up on the stat sheet, as he flung himself across the box to make a diving stop in the 40th minute, despite the offside flag being up.
“Brad’s been big-time,” said Darrius Barnes, who made his second start of the season with Jose Goncalves (ankle) a late scratch. “When you’ve got a keeper like that behind you, it gives you all the confidence in the world.
“That’s what we expect him to do these days is to make those big saves. We know he’s going to pull a couple of those a game, so we have that to lean on a little bit.”
Unfortunately the Revs weren’t able to make Knighton’s heroics count at MAPFRE Stadium, as they were wasteful with a handful of chances in the first half before struggling to create after the break.
“It was a little bit slow,” Heaps said. “We didn’t come out fast enough, hard enough, quick enough. I felt like they played a nice pace for themselves and we couldn’t get into the game.”
New England began to find some answers late before a contentious penalty decision helped Columbus salt away the result, but the Revs will be hoping it’s still not too late for their playoff chances.
Sunday night’s loss leaves the Revolution seventh in the East – one point back of the final postseason spot – making their final three regular-season games essentially must-wins, beginning with next Saturday night’s clash with Sporting Kansas City at Gillette Stadium.
“Critical is not even the word. We know this is the season right here,” Barnes said. “It comes down to these last three. Being a professional athlete, this is what you live for, to be in moments like these and to play in games like these.
“I think the true character of this team will show in crunch time. I think the team’s really starting to rally together, and I don’t think the defeat tonight’s going to alter that at all. We still have the utmost confidence and I think we can go into these games – [one] game at a time – and get three points individually and make our run into the playoffs.”
