or allow a goal -- on the season, but that all changed quickly. In just the eighth minute, Columbus took the lead. From a turnover, Joseph Ngwenya received the ball on the right, and picked out Ricardo Virtuoso in the area. He calmly laid a square pass to Ned Grabavoy and he hit for the Crew's first goal on the campaign as his shot took a deflection on its way to goal.
• But the Revolution pulled level just two minutes later. A nifty passing sequence between Andy Cristman and midfielder Andy Dorman saw Dorman collect pass in the heart of the penalty area and he drove it home, claiming honors as the first man to beat Crew 'keeper Andy Gruenebaum this season.
• The Revolution took the lead seven minutes before the break. Taylor Twellman intercepted the ball near the center circle and went haring forward unmolested, letting fly from 25 yards out with a shot that beat Gruenebaum inside his right-hand post. It was the third goal of the season for Twellman, who hit for a double just five days prior in a 4-0 rout of Toronto FC.
• But the Crew showed resiliency, getting the equalizer four minutes from the end. Brad Evans freed Frankie Hejduk on the right flank and after getting to the corner his rolling cross slipped under the boot of a Revolution defender. Kei Kamara was on the other end and he hammered his shot off the underside of the bar into the goal to give the Crew a third draw in as many matches on the season.
• Revolution head coach Steve Nicol made no changes to the team that drubbed Toronto FC 4-0 in its Gillette Stadium debut the Saturday before.
• Here's Nicol's team (3-4-1-2): Matt Reis - Jay Heaps, James Riley, Avery John - Steve Ralston, Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Khano Smith (Wells Thompson 60) - Andy Dorman - Taylor Twellman, Adam Cristman (Pat Noonan 66). Substitutes Not Used: Gary Flood, Amaechi Igwe, Marshall Leonard, Ryan Solle, Doug Warren
• "It was torture," Nicol said, "certainly from where I was sitting. I've not seen us give the ball away so many times. Pressure, no pressure, nobody cleared their lines when they had to. When we pass the ball, we are a good team. I know what the players are capable of as a team and for us to play the way we did, it was torture."
TEAM NEWS
• After the 4-0 win against Toronto FC at the weekend, the Revolution were disappointed to have left Columbus without a victory and remain winless on the road this season.
• "The way I feel, we gave away 2 points," Matt Reis said to The Boston Globe. "I don't know if we deserved to have the lead; we played pretty ugly. But we got the two goals and their two goals were gifts from us. The first goal was an unfortunate deflection. We have to be better around the box and just clear the ball. It was easy last week [against Toronto] and we thought coming here it would be easy. We didn't do enough to possess the ball, to pass it around. They took our wide play away and we should have known to go through the middle."
• Twellman hit for the 78th league goal of his MLS career, and third in two games. With his next goal he will tie Preki for seventh place in the MLS all-time goalscoring list.
• "In the second half, I had a very good chance. I hit it on goal but the 'keeper (Andy Gruenebaum) made a good save," said Twellman. "Pat (Noonan) and I had a good last 20 or 25 minutes. I should have had one (more)." Said Nicol: "He (Twellman) took his goal great," Nicol said. "The only reason that we got a point was because we did have some quality from Dorman and Taylor, they had quality finishes."
• A year ago, the Revolution got off to a similar start, with a win, draw and loss in their opening three games. They continued to stutter, with just two wins (and five draws) over their next 10 games.
• "I don't think any team has outplayed us and all three goals (on the season) that we have given up are our own fault," said Reis.
• For the trip to face FC Dallas, Nicol could finally have nearly his entire first-choice team to call upon, as both Pat Noonan and Michael Parkhurst are available for duty. Parkhurst could be held out for just a little more protection to his shoulder, facing the "big boys", as he calls them - the strike duo of Carlos Ruiz and Kenny Cooper for the Hoops.
• Said Noonan to the Globe: "I am anxious to get into the starting lineup and, hopefully, I'll get a chance. It takes time to get fit and I don't expect to be 100 percent fit. But I am getting there by playing in games and with extra training. Taylor and I are usually on the same page and, hopefully, we can do something good in this game and keep building on it."
