BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. – The New England Revolution could’ve put their heads down and folded up shop on more than one occasion on Saturday night at Toyota Park.
A controversial penalty decision robbed the Revs of what they felt was a deserved halftime lead after Lee Nguyen had opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the season. And when the Revs fell behind the Chicago Fire in the 75th minute, it looked as if they might be on their way to a seventh straight road loss.
But an immediate riposte from Kelyn Rowe showed a fight New England has regained in recent weeks as they made it four points from their last two games with a 2-2 draw.
“I liked our performance,” said head coach Jay Heaps. “There were obviously areas where we made a couple of mistakes and it cost us, but overall we felt like we were really pushing the game.
“We wanted three points, but [Chicago] fought hard. They’re a good team and they dug in and took the lead on us, so it took a good reaction from us.”
For the second straight weekend the Revs showed a fluidity in the attack – something Heaps said stems from a solid defensive shape – and it was Scott Caldwell getting down the left side to whip in the cross which ultimately led to Nguyen’s opener.
But referee Ricardo Salazar pointed to the spot in the 44th minute after Jose Goncalves appeared to win the ball cleanly off David Accam – Shaun Maloney duly obliged by burying the spot kick – leaving the Revs feeling aggrieved not to be ahead at the break.
“Definitely frustration, especially when it’s not a penalty. But the referee decided it that way,” said Goncalves, who added that he was “100 percent sure” he didn’t make contact with Accam. “But we came back in (to the locker room) and came back together.”
It looked as if there would be more frustration for the Revs when Razvan Cocis bundled home from close range with only 15 minutes remaining, but a pair of second-half subs – Rowe and Juan Agudelo – combined with Chris Tierney to pull the visitors level just moments later.
Agudelo did yeoman’s work to latch onto a long ball and lay off to Tierney, whose low cross from the left slipped through Chicago’s box for Rowe to smash home from inside the six.
“I thought both of our subs at that point did a nice job,” said Heaps. “Juan did an excellent job getting in behind and holding it up, and I thought Kelyn read the game well. But it’s good service from Chris. I think we need a little bit more of that. I think whenever we do get good service we get chances.”
There was, in fact, a late chance for the Revs to snatch all three points, but Rowe’s low cross for Charlie Davies was just out of the forward’s reach.
That left the Revs with a single point to take back home, where they’ll play back-to-back games at Gillette Stadium for the first time since May, beginning on Saturday night against Toronto FC.
“Obviously having a point on the road is essential,” said Rowe. “We need to get as many points as possible, and go home and find three points against Toronto.”
