Tierney’s Injury Thwarts Offense in DC
- Updated: April 23, 2016
Photo credit: Kari Heistad/capturedimages.biz
There wasn’t much for Revolution coach Jay Heaps to be happy about following Saturday’s 3-0 loss at DC. And his squad’s form following an injury to a key player was no exception.
Around the half-hour mark, Revolution left back Chris Tierney suffered a non-contact injury near the touchline that was serious enough for him to exit the match in the 28th minute.
While Tierney’s absence wasn’t a positive development for the Revolution, Heaps was disappointed by what he saw in the aftermath.
“That shouldn’t influence [the game] as much as it did, but it did,” Heaps told the media after the match. “We had to make a couple moves across the back line. But again, on the night we weren’t good enough, whether we made one or two changes it just wasn’t good enough.”
Tierney entered the match with a league-best 59 corners and crosses, and created 14 attacking chances, tied for the team-high with Lee Nguyen. The veteran’s attacking prowess was on full display during the opening minutes as the Revolution outshot DC 5-0 through the first 15 minutes.
Following Tierney’s injury, the wind in the Revolution’s sails predictably died down. Not surprisingly, DC took advantage in the 33rd minute when Lamar Neagle converted a penalty try that came from a sequence in which Je-Vaughn Watson – who manned the left back spot in Tierney’s absence – fouled Marcelo in the box.
“(Tierney) is a big player for us,” Revolution keeper Bobby Shuttleworth told the media after the match. “You get a lot of service from him; a lot of stuff going forward, so for him to go out it hurts us, definitely. He’s the best left back in the league.”
Things only went from bad to worse for the locals thereafter. In the waning minutes, Luciano Acosta and Alvaro Saborio both scored to put the match out of reach.
It’s unclear how much additional time – if any – Tierney will miss after Heaps told reporters that he wasn’t sure of the seriousness of the left back’s injury. One positive sign: the veteran defender was able to walk to the bench under his own power.
“I don’t know the extent of that – I just know it was the right move to take him off just to be cautious,” Heaps said. “I think that we will evaluate him over the next couple of days.”
While Tierney’s injury wasn’t going to help the Revolution offense in any aspect, Heaps doesn’t believe it should’ve been enough to knock the squad off their game on the attacking end.
“It’s real disappointing to start that way and give up a goal and then not to be able to recover,” Heaps said. “So that’s why were here and unfortunately that’s where we are at.”
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