Revolution blow lead, fall to Salt Lake

Ryan Guy celebrates his goal. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Ryan Guy gave the New England Revolution a second half lead, but Real Salt Lake stormed back with goals from Devon Sandoval and Olmes Garcia to steal a 2-1 victory from Gillette Stadium in front of 8,040 on Wednesday night.

After Guy put the Revolution in the lead in the 51st minute, Salt Lake responded with a 77th minute goal from Sandoval and 89th minute strike from Garcia to extend Salt Lake’s unbeaten run against the Revolution to six games, dating back to 2009. Saer Sene had a chance to earn the Revolution a point with a stoppage time penalty kick, but his effort was easily saved by Nick Rimando who appeared to read the shot from the beginning.

“It’s a disappointing result,” said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps. “It’s a tough one to take. You fight, but we gave away too much at the end there. Good team penalized us.”

The win pushed the Salt Lake (5-4-2, 17 points) into first place in the West, while the Revolution (2-4-3, 9 points) dropped to seventh in the East.

Heaps made three changes to the line-up that drew 0-0 at Portland Timbers on Thursday. Fullbacks Andrew Farrell and Chris Tierney returned from injury and suspension, respectively to replace Bilal Duckett and Darrius Barnes, while Scott Caldwell replaced Kalifa Cisse in midfield.

The Revolution started brightly and had a great opportunity inside of seven minutes when Lee Nguyen played Jerry Bengtson behind the defense. Bengtson attempted to round Rimando, but touched it too far, forcing him to send a pass back to the top of the box. The pass eluded Diego Fagundez, but fell to Nguyen who ran in on goal, before going down in the box. The ball then rolled to Bengtson whose shot was blocked  for a corner.

Salt Lake saw shots from Luis Gill and Ned Grabavoy sail before the half before both sides entered the break scoreless.

New England came out with some renewed energy in the second half and just minutes in Faugndez combined with Nguyen to find space at the top of the box. Fagundez unleashed a low shot, but Rimando was equal to it and managed to make the save.

Guy put the Revolution ahead in the 51st with a volley into the lower corner off a cross from Kelyn Rowe, but then it was all Salt lake with Shuttleworth making saves on Grabavoy in the 58th minute and Kyle Beckerman in the 73rd. Shuttleworth followed those up with an impressive diving save on a close range header from Sandoval in the 76th minute.

“This game was always going to be, for us, about a counter attack,” said Guy. “Salt Lake is so good on the ball and so technical through the middle that we knew the chances that we were going to get were going to come from getting the ball wide and getting the ball in the box. That’s precisely what happened and Kelyn (Rowe) put a great ball in. I made the late run at the top of the box, he saw it and it was nice to be able to put one away.”

Salt Lake finally got the breakthrough in the 77th minute when the Revolution failed to clear a cross from the right flank. The ball fell to substitute Sebastian Velasquez who powered a shot on frame. Shuttleworth made the save, but Sandoval was there to knock in the rebound.

New England came close to grabbing the lead back in the 81st minute, but Bengtson’s header off a Chris Tierney free kick from the left flank was wide of the target.

Salt Lake finally grabbed the lead in the 89th minute after Beckerman blasted a shot on frame from distance that Shuttleworth couldn’t control. Shuttleworth’s rebound fell to Garcia who blasted it past Shiuttleworth.

“I think we possess the ball well at times and then give it away too easily at times,” said Shuttleworth. “That starts with me at the back sometimes playing long too often. I just think that once we score a goal we cannot take our foot off the pedal. We have to try to put teams away – especially at home.”

The Revolution earned a penalty kick in stoppage time on a play that saw Carlos Salcedo ejected.  Sene stepped up to take the penalty, but it was well read by Rimando who dove to his right to make the save.

“It’s always a heart breaker,” said Guy. “I mean a penalty’s a penalty. All the pressure is definitely on the taker. We all feel for Saer (Sene). It’s a difficult position. He stepped up, he was confident about it. I think give him another nine of those he’d put them all away. Soccer’s like that sometimes and you got to take it on the chin and we don’t have to wait long to turn this one around.”

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