By Benson Petit-Clair and Michel Pierre Louis
The New England Revolution tightened their grip on the second place in a tight Eastern Conference with a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew, on a rainy Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. With third place Kansas City splitting points with D.C. United on Friday evening, the Revolution now hold sole possession of the second place.
Revs midfielder Lee Nguyen scored his club leading 14th goal of the season to give the home side the lead midway through the first half after a lackluster start from New England. Lee’s 14 goals are the most by a Revolution player since Taylor Twellman netted 16 goals for the club back in 2007.
Minutes later, the visitors responded with a goal of their own courtesy of Ethan Finley, who tallied his 9th of the season, to level the match 1-1; and it would stay that way for the rest of the half.
At the top of the second half, Columbus had a multitude of chances requiring several saves from Bobby Shuttleworth. New England Revolution, However, would grab their 2nd goal of the evening, against the run of play, thanks to Jermaine Jones’ second MLS career goal. Off a free kick delivered by Chris Tierney, the ball sailed through a slew of KC defenders finding an unmarked Jones at the back post who calmly headed it in, midway through the second half.
New England would get another break three minutes later, when KC’s Waylon Francis appeared to push off Charlie Davies who was trying to take a quick throw in; Davies fell to the ground, and the referee handed Francis his 2nd yellow of the game, and the Revolution would play the final 20 minutes with a man advantage.
With the rain battering down on Gillette stadium, the man and goal advantage, the Revolution went into a game-managing mode; and there were very few clear cut opportunities till the final whistle.
Up next, New England will travel north of the border to take on the Montreal Impact on Saturday october 14. Meanwhile, the Columbus Crew will visit Philadelphia at PPL Park.
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