FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – One chaotic sequence early in the second half largely defined Saturday afternoon’s 1-1 draw between the New England Revolution and Toronto FC.
With the Revs leading 1-0 courtesy of Kelyn Rowe’s first-half header, Gershon Koffie was scythed down by TFC defender Justin Morrow in the 57th minute. Play was allowed to continue as the Revolution attacked, but just moments later Teal Bunbury was chopped down inside the box.
New England’s penalty shouts were waved away, however, and immediately TFC sprang a counter as Jozy Altidore teed up Sebastian Giovinco for a deflected equalizer. Instead of a potential 2-0 lead and perhaps a man advantage – Revolution head coach Jay Heaps said Morrow’s tackle was worthy of a red card based on recent history – the Revs were on level terms, both on the field and the scoreboard.
Heaps found plenty of words to express his consternation postgame.
“Frustrated. Disappointed. Disheartened,” said Heaps, who added that the contact between TFC defender Drew Moor and Bunbury could be heard from the bench. “The fact that four guys didn’t see it, it’s sad.”
There were other flashpoints, as well. Charlie Davies was cut down inside the box late in the game but no call was made, and Lee Nguyen had an apparent winner waved off in stoppage time when the ball was deemed to have gone out of bounds, though it was a very tight decision.
“For me, it’s two clear-cut penalties and it’s just disappointing,” said Chris Tierney. “There’s not really more you can say about it. They just weren’t called. You look back and see that they were clear penalties.
“It’s a game that we should’ve won and we deserved to win, and we didn’t.”
New England were encouraged by a bright opening period in which they maintained a good defensive shape, were sharp on the ball and creative in the attack. They found a rhythm they’ve been searching for in recent weeks, and it culminated with Rowe’s goal following an 18-pass buildup.
“That was our speed of play,” said Heaps. “We felt like we were going to get some movement and some play and find different pockets; hence why we went with a little bit more of a narrow lineup.
“We felt we found it and that was where we were able to find most of our speed of play in our possession. I just wish we’d kept going there.”
A bright start to the second half generated another glut of chances – not to mention the two penalty shouts – but the Revs were unable to bag a second goal. The Revs have yet to score multiple goals in a game since the season-opening 3-3 draw with Houston on March 6.
Breaking through for that second goal will remain a focus moving forward as the Revs now head back on the road for a pair of trips to Orlando and D.C. the next two weekends.
“Today I thought we had a lot more possession and had good moments of attack,” said Rowe. “Can we put it all together and find a couple goals rather than just the one?
“I think our fortune today was a little unlucky – I won’t elaborate too much on that – but for us going forward I think it’s a positive. We’ve just got to find a win.”
