![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/lekic3.jpg?resize=273%2C300\" "\\"lekic3\\"")
<\/a>Rajko Lekic was relieved to finally score his second goal of the season on Saturday. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA\/aduama.com)<\/p><\/div>\n
The Revs (3-7-5, 14 points), facing their second struggling Eastern Conference opponent this week in the Fire (2-4-8, 14 points), had ample opportunities to find a winner in what was a back-and-forth affair in front of a crowd of 14,246 at Gillette Stadium. In the end, both sides would rue their missed breaks as the 1-1 draw kept each team firmly entrenched near the bottom of the standings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s disappointing,\u201d said Revolution head coach Steve Nicol. \u201cTo be honest, it feels like a loss, coming in at halftime one down when we should be three up. Defensively we\u2019ve been great this year; tonight we defended terribly. But saying that, going forward we created chances.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fire would take the lead shortly past the half hour mark when Patrick Nyarko managed to get the ball from the Revs\u2019 Sainey Nyassi and quickly found Dominic Oduro streaking forward. Oduro managed to find space around Darrius Barnes and slotted a shot past Revs \u2018keeper Matt Reis to give the Fire a 1-0 advantage.<\/p>\n
New England was unable to respond in the first half despite numerous opportunities, but Lekic would finally answer four minutes after halftime. A long Barnes throw-in was cleared out by the Fire, but fell to Pat Phelan at the top of the box who mishit a shot. His effort, however, found a wide open Lekic, who had been kept onside by a late step forward from the Fire\u2019s defense. Lekic, with plenty of time, turned and easily blasted a shot past Fire goalie Sean Johnson for his second goal of the season and first since April 23rd.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played maybe 5, 6, or 7 games without scoring a goal and I\u2019m here to score to score goals,\u201d said Lekic. \u201cSo it\u2019s a tough time for me. Then when I saw the ball in the net today it was big time for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the second straight game Lekic was partnered up top with Kenny Mansally as the Revs utilized a 4-4-2 formation. Injuries forced head coach Steve Nicol to switch the team up behind them however as right midfielder Zak Boggs and center back Ryan Cochrane were replaced by Nyassi and Franco Coria, respectively.<\/p>\n
The Revs came out positive earning a pair of early corners, but it was Chicago who would threaten the net first in the fifth minute. Jalil Anibaba collected the ball about 30 yards from goal and blasted a shot on frame. His effort was targeted for just under the crossbar, but Reis got a hand on the shot to tip it high.<\/p>\n
Early signs that the Revs defense was in for a rough night appeared in the 16th minute when Cristian Nazarit created a great chance for himself by coolly dribbling around Franco Coria at the top of the box and eluding two sliding defenders before blasting a shot towards the upper corner. His attempt was high of the target.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a lot of fast players,\u201d said rookie center back A.J. Soares. \u201cWe have a lot of guys up high, so they\u2019re always going to be dangerous whenever the ball comes forward for them because they leave numbers up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Revs had an opportunity to take an early lead in the 21st minute when Nyassi found Lekic in the left side of the box. The Danish striker collected the ball and volleyed a shot on frame, but it was right at Johnson, who punched the effort back out.<\/p>\n
Lekic had another opportunity for the Revs in the seven minutes later after Kevin Alston headed down a long pass from Barnes at the top of the box. Lekic hit a left footed shot target for just inside the far post, but Johnson just managed to tip wide with a diving save.<\/p>\n
The Fire responded with a great chance of their own on a fantastic long shot from Nyarko. Reis made an equally impressive save to keep the match scoreless.<\/p>\n
After Chicago took the lead through Oduro in the 32nd minute, Mansally should have equalized for the Revs seven minutes later after he beat his defender to a Nyassi cross just five yards from goal. Mansally blasted a header from close range, but couldn\u2019t keep his shot on frame.<\/p>\n
Five minutes after Lekic scored the equalizer in the second half, Soares nearly put the Revs in the lead after Chris Tierney found him open at the near post on a corner kick. Soares redirected the ball on frame to the near post, but it was cleared off the line by a Fire defender.<\/p>\n
Looking to find a late winner, the Revs inserted newcomer Ryan Guy for his debut in place of Tierney in the 71st minute. Three minutes later it was Guy making a huge play on the defensive end, jumping up to head an Orr Barouch header off a Fire corner kick off the line to keep the score even.<\/p>\n
Barouch nearly set up Oduro for a fantastic chance in the 80th minute on a quick counterattack. Barouch found\u00a0 Oduro in space on the right side of the box and the speedy midfielder powered a shot on frame that Reis just tipped high.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Chicago has] pace \u2026 so if we\u2019re in bad spots, it\u2019s going to be harder to deal with,\u201d said Nicol. \u201cHad we been in better positions, we wouldn\u2019t have had such a problem with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reis came up huge again for the Revs a minute later when Nazarit with his back to goal set up substitute Daniel Paladini at the top of the box. Paladini hit a rocket on target that Reis managed to tip high.<\/p>\n
Substitute Gabriel Ferrari had a chance for a late winner for Chicago in the 88th minute after a deflected pass sent him behind the defense. Ferrari ran in on goal, but Reis held his line to make a great save and preserve the tie.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t really play in the second half,\u201d said Revs midfielder Pat Phelan. \u201cIt turned into a kind of kick and run which doesn\u2019t really suit us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fire continued their offensive assault in stoppage time when a long throw-in made its way to Oduro just outside the six yard box. Oduro volleyed a shot towards goal, but Barnes slid in to block the shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last 10 minutes, I\u2019d have to say the midweek game caught up with us,\u201d said Nicol. \u201cWe ran out of legs. We tried to get forward, when you\u2019re doing that when you\u2019re tired, you\u2019re going to leave holes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lekic had one last chance for the Revs with the final kick of stoppage time. A long throw-in from Barnes found Lekic who juggled the ball in the air and turned on his defender at the top of the box before volleying a left footed shot that was just wide of the post.<\/p>\n
The Revs now head on the road to take on the Seattle Sounders next Sunday, June 26 at 4 p.m., before heading to Utah to face Real Salt Lake on July 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we\u2019re not winning games is going to hurt us in the long run,\u201d said Reis. \u201cWe\u2019ve really put ourselves in a tough situation. We\u2019ve got a lot of games coming up in a short amount of time and it\u2019s starting to get to the middle of the season where everybody\u2019s really getting tired.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rajko Lekic’s second goal of the season wasn’t enough to get the Revs a needed victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/lekicfeature51.jpg?fit=490%2C225","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5075"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5110,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5075\/revisions\/5110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}