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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution’s winless run hit nine games as their playoff hopes went further down the drain in Saturday night’s 1-1 tie against the Portland Timbers at Gillette Stadium.
Scott Caldwell’s first goal of the season gave the Revolution (7-10-9) the lead in the 58th minute, but the hosts couldn’t hold on as the Timbers (11-7-8) rallied in short order to level the match.
“I must say, if we get the lead in games like this down the stretch, we need to keep them,” Caldwell said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
Caldwell opened the scoring less than three minutes after Portland goalkeeper Jeff Attinella (leg) came off for Steve Clark.
The decisive play started with Teal Bunbury at the end line. He sent a cross into the box for Kelyn Rowe, who volleyed the feed on target. Clark parried the shot, but gave away a fat rebound, as Caldwell emerged to tuck the loose ball into the back of the net from inside the six-yard box.
Lawrence Olum equalized for the visitors in the 70th minute. He slipped a flick by Julio Cascante in off a David Guzman corner kick and past the outstretched leg of New England defender Jalil Anibaba, whose last-second clearance kept the ball from fully bulging the back of the net, but not from crossing the inside of the goal mouth.
“They get a corner kick, we need to defend it,” said Revolution coach Brad Freidel.
“Either the goalkeeper comes out, punches it, catches it, or a defender heads it away and players follow their runner. It’s not that difficult of a scenario to set up on a set piece.
“That there comes down to down here,” Friedel said, pointing to his heart, “And in here,” he added, motioning toward his head.”
Friedel seemed particularly exasperated, though New England’s locker room also felt like a morgue as reporters filed in after the game.
The sense that the club’s playoff hopes are all but over was palpable as staff and coaches roamed around. Results around the league didn’t go in the Revolution’s favor, either.
Sixth-place Montreal, which has played two more games than New England, now have a six-point cushion on New England in the standings after defeating the New York Red Bulls at home, 3-0, on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Revs remain in seventh place. D.C. United and Toronto are both breathing down New England’s neck.
D.C. even have two games in hand on New England.
“We gave up points that I think, fortunately, we needed,” Kelyn Rowe said. “It’s put us in a tough spot.
“We have nothing left to lose. We are at the part of our season where we’ve dug ourselves hole and we need to crawl out of it. We need to find a way to get confidence in ourselves, in each other.”