TORONTO – Friday night’s frustrating 2-0 loss to Toronto FC followed a familiar script for the New England Revolution.
For the second straight weekend the Revs got off to a lethargic start and were punished for it, this time TFC center back Drew Moor poking home from close range in the 11th minute.
From there the visitors responded well, creating chance after chance, particularly throughout a dominant second half. But the finish eluded the Revolution at BMO Field, a combination of misfires and one spectacular late save from Toronto goalkeeper Alex Bono sending the Revs home empty-handed.
“We didn’t start off the way we wanted to,” said Andrew Farrell, who started the game at left back before switching to the right side in the late stages. “Five or 10 minutes after (we conceded) the goal, we started playing a little bit. I think when we’re calm, we can play out of it and get our chances.
“I think maybe after we let up a goal, we have a little bit less pressure on us, because we’re already down and we can play like ourselves. But it shouldn’t take [going down a goal] to make us feel like that; we should come out and play like that every time … We’ve got to come out and play like that for 90 minutes.”
While the Revs slowly came into the game throughout the first half, it was after the break when they fully asserted themselves. They maintained almost 60 percent of the possession in the second half and generated a series of quality chances – Teal Bunbury, Kei Kamara, Lee Nguyen and Diego Fagundez all going close – but without the breakthrough, they were left shaking their heads at the final whistle.
“We’ve got to score,” said head coach Jay Heaps. “We had chances, and I’d like us to have more chances. I think we could’ve created more. I think we ran ourselves into the ground trying to get ourselves back into the game at the end. I wanted more opportunities.”
New England were also left feeling aggrieved by a second-half penalty shout that went unheeded when Farrell was chopped down inside the box, a second straight weekend that the Revs felt they’d earned a chance to equalize from the spot only to be denied.
Now winless in nine road games (0-6-3) the Revs will have another crack at picking up their first victory away from home next weekend when they visit the Philadelphia Union, but first they’ll return to the U.S. Open Cup for a Round of 16 showdown with D.C. United on Wednesday night at Harvard University.
Farrell is hopeful that another deep run in the Open Cup – the Revs marched to the final of the competition last year – will provide a spark that they can carry into league action.
“Open Cup is something that was big for us last year, and something maybe to get our legs going in league play,” Farrell said. “Keep the Open Cup going, keep that run going and maybe get our confidence going again.”
