Heaps: We Lost Our Way in 2nd Half
- Updated: October 5, 2015
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
Breaking: Revolution coach Jay Heaps was not impressed with the way his squad performed during the final 45 minutes of Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Fire.
After staking an early lead via Juan Agudelo’s 31st minute header, the advantage collapsed in the second half when the Fire scored three unanswered goals, sealing the Revolution’s fate against the last-place Chicago outfit.
“We absolutely lost our way,” Heaps told the media after the match. “We did not play well. We gave them chances, and they took advantage of them, and credit to them for taking advantage of them.”
In many respects, the Fire didn’t do as much damage as they probably could have. Goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth was forced to make a handful of heady saves on each side of the break just to keep Saturday’s match from becoming an outright onslaught.
But as the proceedings progressed, it became clear that Shuttleworth couldn’t do it alone.
The Fire, who knocked on the door during the first half, finally found the board in the 51st minute when Harry Shipp fed it to David Accam on the wing, where the speedy striker squeezed his shot between the near post and Shuttleworth to put the match on level terms.
It didn’t stay level for long. Eight minutes after assisting on the equalizer, Shipp jumped on a botched clearance attempt by Andrew Farrell, who could only watch as the Fire midfielder raced at Shuttleworth 1 v 1 before depositing it into the back of the New England net.
Down a goal against the worst team in the league, and with a playoff spot on the line, the Revolution tried to mount a comeback. Heaps sent in Teal Bunbury and Charlie Davies after Shipp’s go-ahead to try to get the offense in gear. But it the guests’ best efforts were ostensibly rendered moot in the 86th minute after Gilberto buried a Matt Watson ball with a simple finish.
“The key is not to give them anything , and we did,” Heaps said. “We never should have been in a position to give them the ball where they (got) it both times. They finished, and I want to credit them. I don’t want to say that we handed them anything, they did well finish them. We were assisting their opportunities.”
Saturday’s match marked the first time the Revolution surrendered three goals after the break since a 5-1 loss to the LA Galaxy on Jul. 16, 2014. Worse, it kept the Revolution on the wait list for a playoff spot for the third straight week after failing to clinch against Philadelphia and Montreal during the previous two weekends.
“(It’s) frustrating – there is really only so much you can do we as a group with last weekend’s game (against Philadelphia),” Heaps said. “We really did go about it the right way and missed a chance to win a game and played particularly well. Whatever the situation is, for today we didn’t have a great second half. And that’s frustrating.”
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