FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The Real Salt Lake goal was impenetrable for the New England Revolution Saturday night. The Revs laid siege to the RSL goal but ultimately came away with a 0-0 draw at Gillette Stadium.
Nick Rimando was the star for Real Salt Lake, with his crucial intervention on Steve Ralston's low shot in the 87th minute the critical save in a series of stops that kept New England off the scoreboard and gave RSL a much-needed boost.
New England can count itself unlucky to not have found a goal, with Taylor Twellman unfortunate not to have converted from six yards within the match's first 10 minutes.
But it was RSL who earned the point with a dogged defensive display in the second half, especially in the final eight minutes after Ritchie Kotschau was sent off less than a minute after arriving on the pitch for a late challenge on Bryan Byrne.
Real head coach Jason Kreis kept faith with the same starting 11 from last weekend and handed a spot on the bench to Kotschau, who signed with the club Wednesday. New England manager Steve Nicol made one change, dropping Pat Noonan in favor of Adam Cristman.
Twellman had the first chance of the contest on eight minutes. Khano Smith wriggled free down the left wing and got to the byline past Nik Besagno. Smith crossed into the goal area and Twellman glanced his header off the top of the crossbar from six yards.
Alecko Eskandarian the collected the ball in midfield and crossed to the left edge of the penalty area to Mehdi Ballouchy. The Moroccan playmaker stepped inside and curled his effort just high of the upper right corner after 20 minutes.
Andy Dorman unleashed a thirty-yard bomb just a minute later that forced Rimando to parry over the crossbar.
Freddy Adu had a couple of chances to get into the contest during the latter stages of the first half as he switched from side to side to exploit the space behind the Revolution wingers in Nicol's preferred 3-5-2 formation. Atiba Harris sent him through in the 30th minute, but Adu could only lash it into the side netting.
Twellman had another chance to increase his league-leading goal tally to eight on 32 minutes as he got in behind the RSL defense only to sidefoot his effort at Rimando from inside eight yards.
RSL had one final chance just before the break, once again courtesy of Adu. After being released down the left hand side of the penalty area, Adu crossed to the far post to Chris Klein. Klein's shot forced a smart save from Matt Reis at the near post, with Reis aided by a rebound off the near stick.
The home side returned to the ascendancy after the break, continuing to send players forward in search of the game's first goal, while the visitors struggled to maintain possession and mount any semblance of an attack.
Twellman was denied yet again by Rimando in the 56th minute. Through on goal after Jack Stewart slipped, Twellman fired his effort to the far post only for Rimando to leap and thwart the attempt away from goal.
Besagno picked up a knock in the 59th minute, which brought on Chris Brown and shifted Klein to right back. Klein's first task was an important one, as his slide denied a Dorman shot from 10 yards after another well-worked Revolution move.
New England surged forward in numbers over the last half an hour, with substitutes Byrne and Wells Thompson providing width, but New England just couldn't find a way past Rimando. The keeper was especially brave to come out to challenge Twellman in the 80th minute, taking a massive hit from the Revolution striker for his troubles.
Kotschau made his RSL debut in the 81st minute and was sent off less than a minute later. After Byrne, who made his MLS debut on the night, played the ball through in midfield, Kotschau arrived tardily with his sliding challenge and saw red from referee Baldomero Toledo.
After the red card, it was time to batten down the hatches for Real as New England poured players forward in droves seeking the match winner.
Rimando had to be at his very best in the 87th minute, diving low and to his left to deny a low shot from Steve Ralston, and alert in the 89th minute to save a deflected shot. After some last ditch defending thwarted any real chances in stoppage time, RSL secured the point they wanted.
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
