No Place Like Home

By Brian O'Connell
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Updated: September 2, 2017

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – There’s no place like home for the road-weary Revolution.

After suffering consecutive road losses, the local XI rebounded to claim a 4-0 win over Orlando City SC on the back of Kei Kamara’s first career hat trick Saturday at Gillette Stadium.

Kamara tallied in the 26th minute when he threw his right foot in the path of a Scott Caldwell cross before it landed in the back of the net. A second goal before the break nearly came to fruition in the 43rd minute when Lee Nguyen sent a beautiful finish through before VAR nullified it because Teal Bunbury was offside on the setup.

But Kamara eased any late-game anxiety for the home supporters when he eluded the Lions backline and poked through an easy finish in the 75th minute, and most importantly, without protest from VAR. His third goal arrived in the 89th minute, a point in which the Lions already had the look of defeat on their faces.

Adding to the Lions’ embarrassment, Bunbury scored in stoppage time on a pass from Revolution debutant Krisztian Nemeth. Nemeth’s setup was made possible by Nguyen, who collected assists on all four New England goals.

Jose Aja earned a second caution in the 80th minute to leave Orlando City shorthanded for the duration.

Unlike their performance in DC last weekend, the Revolution were the clear aggressors on Saturday. Kamara and Nguyen were both lively, while Bunbury also found a couple of shouts for a goal before the break.

The fact they were able to find attacking success without Kelyn Rowe (knee sprain) and Diego Fagundez (quad strain) was all the more surprising in a match that witnessed the Revolution outgun the Lions 10-8 in the shot department.

Defensively, the Revolution didn’t skip a beat even without the services of starting center back Antonio Delamea, who was called up to Slovenia earlier in the week. The center back pairing of Benjamin Angoua and Claude Dielna kept the Lions off the board.

Cody Cropper snuffed out a Giles Barnes effort mid-way through the first half to ensure the Lions didn’t make the most of their scant opportunities.

The Revolution return to action on Saturday, Sept. 9 when they host the Montreal Impact. Kickoff is 7:30pm. It’ll be the first meeting of the season against the conference foes after the Revolution won the season series (2-1-0) last year.