Toronto FC entered Saturday night's match with New England aiming to reverse their fortunes at Gillette Stadium.
In three previous trips to suburban Boston, TFC had mustered just one goal in its three losses. With the Revolution breathing down their necks in the Eastern Conference standings, the Reds couldn't afford a similar performance.
For the first 50 minutes of TFC's 1-1 draw in New England on Saturday night, it looked like the Reds would contradict the history and break their Gillette Stadium hoodoo with a victory.
Although the history made a result unlikely, the Reds didn't play like a team that had previously struggled in the venue in the first half. After a slow start in the first 10 minutes, TFC perked up considerably with Dwayne De Rosario causing the Revolution back line all sorts of problems by floating into difficult spaces.
"I was just trying to find the gaps in between our offense and our midfield," De Rosario said. "I was coming across the back of them, so that's why I was getting a lot of joy. I was basically playing with that and playing a little bit wider than usual. I knew they were struggling in terms of they didn't know who to have mark me."
De Rosario used that space to his advantage in the 34th minute after Chad Barrett's shot deflected off Ali Gerba's face and right into his path. De Rosario hit the deflection with a first-time volley and powered his effort into the far side netting.
"At first, I was thinking about taking a touch and then hitting it, but then I said I said no, I'm going to hit this far post," De Rosario said. "Thankfully, it went in. It was a goal that we needed. Coming into the half at 1-0, we looked great."
Things took a turn for the worse five minutes after the break. Revolution right back Kevin Alston had flummoxed Chad Barrett all night with his pace and persistence. Barrett picked up a yellow card in the 36th minute for a foul on Alston and then committed his fifth foul of the night by sliding through Alston in the 50th minute. Referee Terry Vaughn issued Barrett his second yellow for the late tackle and reduced TFC to 10 men.
"Chad (Barrett) was being unprofessional tonight and got himself sent off," TFC interim boss Chris Cummins said. "I told him there are no second chances. He's let the team down tonight and he's let myself down. He's a young kid and as long as he learns from it, then it's not a problem. There are games where he does good things for us and scores the goals, but he's let us down tonight and he knows that."
Once Barrett earned his walking papers, TFC had to hold out resolutely in order to take something from the game. New England's Edgaras Jankauskas eventually broke the stubborn resistance in the 76th minute to earn the Revolution a point.
Even though Barrett's dismissal changed the momentum and possibly cost the Reds points, TFC captain Jim Brennan said the Reds can take something from the performance they produced in this game after disappointing losses to Columbus and Puerto Rico over the past week.
"It said an awful lot," Brennan said. "After the game we came in here and guys were disappointed and had their heads down because with 10 men, we wanted to win that game. I think if we had 11 men on the field, we would have walked away with the three points today. It shows character when you're disappointed with one point today. It shows that everybody is on the right page here and we want to win."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com
