The buzzword in New England Revolution camp after Saturday night's 3-3 draw with Columbus: disappointment.
New England fell behind to an early Robbie Rogers goal before tallying three times within 19 minutes, twice through Adam Cristman and once from Pat Noonan, to storm into a 3-1 lead.
The first crack appeared just before halftime as Guillermo Barros Schelotto struck home in stoppage time to draw the Crew within one.
Revolution manager Steve Nicol was not happy with how the second goal was conceded.
"On the second goal, the ball was caught out and we had no one in the middle of the park," Nicol said.
Cristman was displeased with how the first half finished after the Revolution had built the momentum with the first three goals.
"It's disappointing to go out the way we did," Cristman said of the finish to the first half. "To score three goals and give up the late one in the first half, it's just not real good discipline to finish it off."
That disappointment was compounded after the Revs failed to capitalize on a few second half chances, notably when Cristman was denied by Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer in the 52nd minute, and extend its lead.
Alejandro Moreno made the Revolution pay five minutes from time as he headed home a Barros Schelotto cross to earn the away team a point.
It was the culmination of a series of chances for the Crew, including a Marcos Gonzalez effort that was saved by Matt Reis while standing in his own goal, and an Eddie Gaven curler that Reis tipped wide.
"It was absolutely disappointing," Nicol said. "I think we were a bit naive when we were ahead 3-2. They were breaking on us the whole game and at 3-2, we really needed to be able to see the game out. I think we just had to be smart."
Cristman said he thought the team missed the experienced hands of Taylor Twellman, Steve Ralston and Michael Parkhurst, who missed the contest while on duty with the U.S. national team.
"Yeah, we [missed] a little bit of the experience and how to finish out a game," Cristman said. "[Twellman, Ralston, and Parkhurst] would've been helpful in that situation that we were in, but, these guys all did well. They're pros, and they know how to do their job."
Nicol said his team needs to be more intelligent in how it approaches finishing out games.
"I feel as though we've contributed quite a bit [to] our own downfall," Nicol said.
Cristman profited from a newly forged strike partnership with Pat Noonan. Noonan set up one of Cristman's strikes and scored one himself to make it three goals for the strikers on the evening.
"It felt really good playing with Pat [Noonan]," Cristman said. "I think we were really able to move well, and get the defenders out of position and really terrorize them. It was pretty exciting."
Nicol was pleased with how his players performed in the final third.
"[Our players have] taken the chances," Nicol said. "They've scored three goals and put the ball into the box for the finish."
Cristman said that while the result was entirely unfortunate, it was not necessarily what the Revolution deserved from the contest.
"Overall, I thought we played pretty well, and I thought we deserved to win," Cristman said. "We're not in a terrible position. We tied and we still got a point. But, I think the key for this team is to just to be able to stay disciplined and stay focused through the games.
In order to return to MLS Cup, the final product will have to improve, according to Cristman.
"It's important for us that if we're going to be a good championship team that you've got to build that character and stick with it," Cristman said.
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
