Streaks Busted
- Updated: September 19, 2015
Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com
The New England Revolution saw their six game winning streak and eight game unbeaten streak come to a crashing halt on Saturday evening with a 3-0 loss to the Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo.
A deflected shot from Johan Venegas opened the scoring for Montreal in the fifth minute and a deflected free kick from Didier Drogba doubled their advantage in the 60th. A 72nd minute red card to Marco Donadel wouldn’t slow Montreal as they would add to their lead through Dilly Duka in the 76th minute despite being down a man.
The Revolution (13-10-7, 46 points) fell to second place in the East with the loss as the Columbus Crew’s (13-9-8, 47 points) victory over D.C. United (13-11-6, 45 points) saw them jump into first. The Montreal Impact (10-11-6, 36 points) moved into the sixth and final playoff spot with the win.
Head coach Jay Heaps continued to rotate the Revolution line-up in their busy stretch of games this week with six changes from their midweek win. Jermaine Jones, Kelyn Rowe, Chris Tierney, Jeremy Hall, Charlie Davies and Steve Neumann all returned to the line-up after starting on the bench in Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls.
The Impact took the lead in the fifth minute when Venegas orchestrated an attack. After a nice run forward, Venegas played the ball out wide left to Andrés Romero. Venegas got the ball back from Romero and then found Ignacio Piatti on the right wing. Piatti played it back to Venegas who this time took a shot from distance that deflected off Steve Neumann and looped perfectly over Bobby Shuttleworth and into the back of the net to make it 1-0 Montreal.
Ten minutes later Didier Drogba threatened for the home side with a shot from outside the box. Drogba’s shot was tipped by Shuttleworth and only kept out by the crossbar.
The Revolution had one of their more dangerous chances in the 31st minute after earning two corner kicks. The second corner led to a Neumann cross that Charlie Davies powered on frame with a header that beat goalkeeper Evan Bush, but was cleared off the line by Laurent Ciman. Teal Bunbury put the rebound on frame, but Bush made the save.
Montreal would double their lead in the 60th minute after earning a free kick about 25 yards out. Drogba blasted a low shot on frame that looked likely to be easily saved by Shuttleworth, but his effort deflected off Kelyn Rowe and left the Revolution keeper with no chance, making it 2-0.
New England was given a lifeline in the 72nd minute when Montreal’s Marco Donadel was given a straight red card for a reckless tackle on Andrew Farrell, leaving the Revolution up a man for the rest of the match.
Still, it was the Impact who nearly scored again in the 74th minute when Piatti got around Farrell and attempted to chip a shot inside the far post. Piatti’s effort beat Shuttleworth, but was denied by the post.
A minute later Montreal would get their third when Drobgba brought down a long punt from Bush and sent a pass to substitute Dilly Duka, who slipped past the Revolution defense and slotted it past Shuttleworth to make it 3-0.
The Revolution nearly got a consolation goal in the 84th minute when a Tierney cross found substitute Juan Agudelo at the near post, who attempt to direct a shot on frame, but just missed the target from a tough angle.
The visitors continued to push for a goal, but Bush and the Montreal defense was able to hold on to the shutout.
New England returns home to face the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, Sept. 26 at Gillette Stadium.
Related Posts
About Sean Donahue
One Comment