Christmas arrived for the New England Revolution in the 80th minute of Saturday night's 2-1 victory against the New York Red Bulls.
Red Bulls goalkeeper Jon Conway fluffed a Carlos Mendes back pass, allowing it to inexplicably find a home in the Red Bulls' net to give the home side the victory.
Revolution head coach Steve Nicol compared the blunder to a goal scored by a former Scotland international in the 1970s and indicated that his side might have been fortunate to eke out a victory.
"Fortunate? I'm kind of divided, to be honest," Nicol said. "I think we made some chances, but I don't think we particularly controlled the game. I don't think they did, either. It was a wee bit scrappy."
New England could have seized the lead in the 17th minute after Seth Stammler was penalized for tugging Adam Cristman. Cristman fell to the ground and referee Baldomero Toledo surprisingly pointed to the spot.
"We got a pretty soft penalty, though I'm not complaining," Nicol said. "If we didn't get it, we weren't going to cry over it."
Karma reared its ugly head on the penalty attempt by Shalrie Joseph, as he dragged his resultant effort just wide of the target.
"It was my mistake," Joseph said. "I should have converted it. I just opened up a little too wide."
Jozy Altidore gave New York the lead in the 30th minute after a one-two with Juan Pablo Angel gave him space to slide home past Matt Reis.
But Taylor Twellman managed to put his side level a minute after the break when he collected a Matt Reis punt and slotted home without hassle.
"I thought it was huge that we got that goal so early in the second half," Joseph said.
The Mendes backpass gave New England the win to cap a game that saw neither team really assert itself.
"It certainly wasn't the most fluent performance we've ever had, but we still made some chances," Nicol said. "But we can play better.
Neither team created a bevy of chances, but Nicol said that his goalkeeper did well with the chances he did face.
"The effort was there," Nicol said. "I don't think we started particularly well. Reis made two huge saves tonight. A few weeks ago, we were talking about the mistake he made against D.C. And one of the reasons why we didn't blast him for that was because of what you saw tonight from him."
New England now enters a much-needed off week with a victory and a three-point cushion atop the Eastern Conference. The next contest for the Revolution is the Sept. 5 encounter with USL-1 side Carolina RailHawks in the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Joseph believes that his side will be able to rest and recover with the end of the season looming.
"We're playing well," Joseph said. "The break will help us."
Nicol pointed to the run-in and noted that his team needed three points no matter the peculiar circumstances.
"But it's getting that time of the year where it's points that matter more than anything else, and we got three tonight," Nicol said. "It was an unusual way to get it, but we'll take them."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
