The New England Revolution’s home shutout streak ended at 433 minutes, but their unbeaten run extended to seven straight after beating DC United 2-1 on Saturday night. Fabian Espindola’s strike was sandwiched by goals from the red-hot duo of Patrick Mullins and Diego Fagundez to help the home side win.
Head coach Jay Heaps made one change to the starting lineup as he reinstated Jose Goncalves and shifted Andrew Farrell to right back. Darrius Barnes was sacrificed to make room for the captain. After the game, Heaps admitted that it was a difficult decision.
“(Putting Jose Goncalves back in the starting 11) was probably my toughest decision of the short season so far, because who do you take out?” Heaps questioned. “It wasn’t about just getting Jose back. I thought tonight we needed a little uptick from some senior leadership.”
While Goncalves patrolled the backline, it was Mullins that continued to torment opponents offensively. Mullins was active early on as he was at the center of two solid first half opportunities. Lee Nguyen put the former Terp in on goal with a smart chip in the 19th minute. The rookie’s left-footed cross was behind Teal Bunbury, forcing him to attempt an overhead kick that went over the net.
Mullins was looking for redemption in the 39th minute when Chris Tierney put him behind the defense. The rookie’s shot was stopped by Bill Hamid. Once the play completed, the referee issued a yellow card to Chris Korb for his crunching tackle on Tierney.
The first half ended in a stalemate with only three shots on goal. Eddie Johnson looked eager to end the deadlock after the break. In the 51st minute, the striker made the most of a mistake made by Goncalves when he barreled towards Bobby Shuttleworth, but his shot was fired wide.
Mullins was more accurate with his shot in the 55th minute. The play was initiated by Fagundez, who made a bold run into the box. The teenager was stopped by a DC defender, but the ball fell to Mullins, who took a number of sharp touches before scoring his fourth goal in as many games.
“I thought D.C. did a nice job with their two defensive midfielders and they won every second ball, they shielded their back four really well, so Patrick had to earn it tonight and I thought he did a great job of finding the little gaps, holding it when he could and finishing off a chance,” Heaps stated.
DC head coach Ben Olsen soon looked to his bench to change the flow of the game. Espindola, who leads the team in both assists and goals, came in for Collin Martin in the 60th minute and immediately made an impact by testing Shuttleworth with a low drive.
The game turned physical as both teams were whistled for hard fouls. Bunbury earned a yellow card in the 64th minute for a foul on Cristian. Soon after, Bobby Boswell knocked down second half substitute Kelyn Rowe. Davy Arnaud and Fagundez earned matching yellow cards in the 67th minute for a spat over the ball.
The Revs saw their home shutout streak in the 73rd minute when Cristian found Espindola in the box. The substitute caught Shuttleworth wrong-footed, hitting the ball in the center of the goal.
The tie would only last four minutes as Fagundez scored his fourth goal in three games. The goal came when Hamid and Korb proved unable to deal with Bunbury’s cross. After the ball skipped across the goalmouth, Fagundez powered it into the back of the net.
“I tell everyone, after you get the first goal, it all comes after that,” Fagundez said. “After I scored that first goal this season it opened up a lot for me – I think a lot of other players will tell you the same thing.”
The physicality came to a head in the 82nd minute when Johnson was shown a straight red for apparently stomping on Rowe. Johnson, who was just coming off a one-game suspension handed down by the disciplinary committee, exited the field to give the Revs a one-man advantage.
DC had a late chance to equalize when Espindola sent in a corner kick in the 89th minute. Cristian would head the ball on frame but Steve Neumann was there to heroically clear it off the line.
The Revs will look to continue their good run of form when they travel to Montreal to face the Impact on Saturday, May 31st.
(Image courtesy of Kari Heistad)
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