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Revolution lose precious lead, forced to settle for home draw against St. Louis
It was the response that first-year Revolution coach Caleb Porter was looking for, as two goals 12 minutes apart turned an early one-goal deficit into a 2-1 halftime lead Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.
But St. Louis City FC continued its physical play through most of the second half, and got an equalizer from Simon Becher with 17 minutes left to deny New England the 3 points it craved in a 2-2 draw in front of a soggy crowd in Foxborough.
The Revolution, looking to bounce back from a 2-0 loss at Real Salt Lake, had to settle for a draw to move to 8-15-3 on the year, good for 27 points — just 1 point off the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
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The hosts have goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic to thank for scraping out a point, as he made nine saves.
The Revolution were missing central defender Xavier Arreaga, who was away on international duty for Ecuador, and midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic, with his native Bosnia and Herzegovina.
St. Louis (5-10-13) took advantage, taking nearly double the shots (21-11) and the majority of the corners (7-2) on the night, as it moved its unbeaten streak in MLS play to four matches (1-0-3).
But the Revolution had a shout for a penalty on a possible handball by St. Louis in the final minutes, and referee Timothy Ford went and reviewed the play but waved off any infraction — a decision that left Porter furious.
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“We are very disappointed with the officiating. It’s 100 percent a penalty kick,” said Porter, also pointing out the Revolution are the only MLS team not awarded a penalty this season. “I don’t know how you look at the screen and decide not to give a penalty. It’s a travesty, and there needs to be some accountability for that decision, because we lost two points because of that decision.”
The visitors got the game’s first goal in the 23rd minute, and from a once-familiar face to the Foxborough faithful.
Henry Kessler, who spent five years with the Revolution before being traded for fellow center back Tim Parker in early August, rose up to head Marcel Hartel’s right-wing corner kick deliver perfectly over the outstretched hand of Ivacic and inside the far back post.
It was the perfect, unstoppable header, but the hosts came up with the perfect response.
Just five minutes after Kessler’s opener, a simple build-up from the back turned into gold thanks to Luca Langoni. Porter’s expensive summer transfer signing was sent free down the left side by Will Sands, with Langoni spinning away from a stumbling Kessler to go in alone on goal.
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The 22-year-old Argentine cut right in on St. Louis keeper Roman Bürki and buried a low shot underneath the charging netminder to score on his Gillette debut to tie things up.
Then it was up to the captain to give the Revolution the lead with his sixth goal of the campaign.
Just a minute after Dylan Borrero bashed the right post with a bid, Carles Gil collected a feed from Sands atop the box, made a little stutter step to free up room and then sneakily pushed a low roller along the turf that wrong-footed Bürki and slid inside the far left post to give the hosts a 2-1 lead in the 40th minute.
It was the second assist of the night for Sands in his third appearance — all starts — since coming over from the Columbus Crew, while Ian Harkes picked up a second assist for his fourth helper of the campaign.
New England came out for the second half looking to push its lead to two, but St. Louis started putting the pressure back on Ivacic in the 58th minute, when he dove to his right to push aside a bid by Hartel.
Ivacic came up with two more saves before the visitors pulled level in the 73rd minute. As hard rain fell, St. Louis dispossessed Harkes on his side of midfield and then attacked down the left wing through João Klauss.
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Klauss fed Hartel wide left, but his cross from almost the goal line deflected off the heel of a Revolution player into the penalty area. Klauss smartly dummied, letting the ball roll back to Becher, who rifled a low right-footed shot past Ivacic into the low right corner for his third goal in his fourth game for St. Louis.
Porter, looking for a much-needed 3 points, brought on Bobby Wood and Emmanuel Boateng in a double switch in the 84th minute. But it was St. Louis that had the best chances late, with Harkes and teenage fullback Peyton Miller coming up with key blocks in stoppage time.
“I told them they were excellent today,” Porter said of his squad. “I told them we’re going to win a lot of games playing that way with the group we have. You can see we are explosive, we are dangerous, and we are only going to get better.”
The Revolution travel to Orlando City SC next Saturday to face a Lions squad 10 points higher in the standings.
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