Two goals in the final quarter of the game saw the New England Revolution reverse an earlier defeat to the Chicago Fire, claiming a 3-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. The result sees the Revs move into second place in the Eastern Conference standings as the visitors fell to their first defeat on the campaign.
An evenly-poised game was broken open by Steve Nicol's side in the closing stages, as goals from the inspirational Steve Ralston and Wells Thompson secured the victory for the home side and kept the Revolution unbeaten since the first game of the season, a 1-0 loss to Chicago at Toyota Park. Jeff Larentowicz staked the home side to an early lead before Chris Rolfe scored an opportunistic equalizer just before halftime.
In the absence of the suspended Shalrie Joseph, the Revs starting XI saw Michael Parkhurst move into an unfamiliar central midfield role, with James Riley returning to central defense and Avery John recalled. Meanwhile, Adam Cristman was restored to the starting lineup up front in place of Pat Noonan.
The Revolution capitalized on having the balance of the early play in the 16th minute. Cristman had already gone close, when he headed wide from Andy Dorman's corner, and it was from another flag kick that the hosts broke through. Ralston was the provider for Larentowicz, who despite having both feet in the air, was able to stab the service home at the near post with his right foot from four yards out for his first goal of the season.
Two minutes later, Khano Smith almost conjured a goal out of nothing to double the New England lead. Having collected possession on the left side, the tall Bermudan scythed his way through the Chicago defense, eluding desperate lunges from Ivan Guerrero and C.J. Brown and looked set to fire home, only to snatch at the shot and hit it into the side netting.
In the 32nd minute, a Fire corner was the trigger for a Revolution counterattack that began when Riley's clearance found Smith in space on the left. Taylor Twellman was wide open in the middle of the penalty area but Smith's square ball was a second too late in arriving at the feet of the Revs' top scorer, which allowed a backtracking Rolfe to slide in and clear the ball away.
On the verge of halftime, Rolfe proved to be a thorn in the Revolution side at the other end as Chicago took advantage of its own spell of pressure from a corner. Moments after Diego Gutierrez had fired in a snap shot to which Matt Reis reacted well to smother, the Revs' goalkeeper got a hand to but could not keep out Rolfe's shot, which was fired in from 20 yards following a half clearance by Parkhurst.
The Revolution emerged from the locker room with a renewed sense of purpose and Dorman twice went close to regaining the lead in the opening minutes of the second period. Two minutes in, Ralston's cross from the touchline was half cleared by Jim Curtin to Dorman, whose on-target shot was blocked by the Fire defender. Seconds later, the Englishman again was denied, this time by Chris Armas, who was perfectly positioned 10 yards out to deny the goalbound effort.
In the 54th minute, Twellman almost produced a replica of his game-winner against Dallas seven days previously. Ralston's chipped ball from the right edge of the penalty area found Twellman, who volleyed towards goal from 10 yards, only for Pickens to snatch the acrobatic effort.
Just prior to midway point of the second half, Steve Nicol made a double switch - replacing Avery John and Dorman with Joe Franchino and Thompson - as the Revs starting lineup began to show signs of fatigue in what was the side's third game in a week.
Franchino replaced John, which enabled Parkhurst to slide back into his regular position at the back. With Riley moving left, the hosts immediately looked more settled. In truth, Parkhurst had struggled to adapt to his more advanced role.
Though the replacements were not directly involved, the move paid almost immediate dividends for New England, which grabbed the lead in the 68th minute. Larentowicz picked out a wide-open Smith, who after a number of poorly-hit crosses, played in a fine center that was missed at the near post by Curtin, allowing Ralston to steal in ahead of Segares at the far post and stab home his first goal of the year.
Twelve minutes later, Thompson secured the result for the Revolution with his first professional goal. Ralston's clever lay-off found Cristman, who played a ball out to the right where Thompson showed a neat touch to beat the sliding Segares before stroking a neat finish over Pickens.
Andrew Hush is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
