NEW YORK – The New England Revolution continue to search for that elusive first win of the season. But they believe they’re closer now, following a 1-1 draw with New York City FC Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
“We’ve been able to stay in games. No one here is down,” forward Charlie Davies said. “We demand a lot from each other and expectations are extremely high, which is what you want, this type of winning mentality and environment. I think we just have to keep building off these performances. There’s a lot of positives from these games. That win is coming soon.”
For chunks of the second half of Saturday’s game, it appeared that the win might come in the Bronx. That’s despite the team playing down a man for the final 39 minutes, after referee Ricardo Salazar sent off Gershon Koffie with a straight red for a challenge from behind on Tommy McNamara in midfield in the 51st minute.
That made this the second consecutive game in which the Revs were forced to play a long stretch with 10 men. (The first came on Mar. 20, after right back Je-Vaughn Watson was sent off in the 36th minute of a 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Union.)
Revs coach Jay Heaps adamantly disagreed with the red card call. “Quite frankly, we need the referees to keep their red cards in their pocket,” he said. “There’s no need for that. The game was perfectly going 11-v-11, there weren’t any dirty challenges; it was a fair game. I’m really disappointed in that decision.”
The Revs responded, though, in a positive way. And it started with resolute defending.
“First things first, we weren’t going to concede,” said Chris Tierney. He scored the equalizer in the 39th minute, when his deflected free kick from 20 yards beat NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders. “At a minimum we were getting out with a draw. We knew that today we were the better team and we deserved a point at least. We defended really hard and credit to all the guys in the back, Bobby [Shuttleworth] as well.”
The Revs actually had more scoring chances, including a few by Davies, who came on a substitute in the 57th minute. But the one thing missing Saturday is the same that’s been missing throughout the first month of the season.
“It’s not about how the team is approaching the game, it’s not about how we’re prepared for the game,” Heaps said. “It’s all about execution right now. Right now it’s cliche, but it’s the final ball, the final piece of the puzzle, the product to score the goal. Someone has to make the play.”
