Late Collapse in Portland
- Updated: June 7, 2015
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
The New England Revolution and goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth kept the Portland Timbers off the scoresheet for 86 minutes on Saturday night at Providence Park in Portland, Ore., but the visitors conceded two late goals to substitute Fanendo Adi to suffer a 2-0 loss. The loss left the Revolution winless in their last six matches.
After a rough opening ten minutes, New England seemed to settle into the match and things looked fairly even heading into halftime. The second half was nearly all Timbers, however, as the home side outshot the Revolution 12 to 1 in the period and finally got the breakthrough with Adi in the 86th minute and added a second for good measure three minutes later.
New England fell to 5-4-6 (21 points) with the loss and remains in second place, seven points behind D.C. United. The Revolution now haven’t won a match since May 2.
Head coach Jay Heaps was forced to make several changes to his line-up. Chris Tierney and Lee Nguyen returned from suspension to start at left back and center midfield, respectively, but the Revolution was without Juan Agudelo (U.S. National Team duty) and Jermaine Jones (left groin strain). Agudelo and Jones were replaced with Kelyn Rowe and Andy Dorman, respectively.
Portland had the better of the early, with the Revolution defense looking extremely shaky to start the match. Gastón Fernández, Darlington Nagbe, Dairon Asprilla, and Maximiliano Urruti all saw chances just miss the target within the first 11 minutes.
New England finally had a chance in the 15th minute when Rowe earned a free kick just outside the box, but Tierney’s effort was high of the net.
Rowe had the game’s first shot on target in the 19th minute after a nice build-up, but his effort from the top of the box was right at goalkeeper Adam Larsen Kwarasey and was easily saved.
Portland’s first shot on target didn’t come till the 35th minute, when Darlington Nagbe’s impressive shot from distance forced Bobby Shuttleworth into a diving save.
Rowe had New England’s next chance in the 41st minute with a strike from outside the box. The ball was right at Kwarasey, who made the save, but mishandled it and needed to push it away for a corner kick.
Portland came out positively in the second half and forced Shuttleworth into another key save in the 51st minute. Nagbe again hit a hard shot from just outside the box that forced the Revolution keeper into a difficult save.
Four minutes later Portland had a 2-on-2 opportunity and Nagbe played Urruti into the right side of the box. Urruti ran in on goal, but sent his shot into the side netting.
Perhaps Portland’s best chance of the game thus far came in the 75th minute when Nagbe found substitute Fanendo Adi at the far post. Adi headed it back to Urruti, who headed it on frame from point blank range, but Shuttleworth again made a huge save.
Two minutes later it was New England on the attack, but Lee Nguyen’s shot from just outside the box was too close to Kwarasey and well saved.
Portland finally got the winner in the 86th minute after earning a free kick just outside the box on a foul from Nguyen. Jorge Villafaña curled the set piece into the box where Adi beat his defender to the ball and headed it past Shuttleworth to give the home side a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later Portland sealed the win when Adi directed a header off an Alvas Powell cross past Shuttleworth for his second goal of the night.
New England returns home to face the Chicago Fire on Saturday, June 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.
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