The Chicago Fire needed a goal. But were they expecting it from Wilman Conde?
The Fire defender scored his first MLS goal in the 86th minute to give Chicago a come-from-behind 2-1 victory against a 10-man New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium.
The home side was left to wonder where it all went wrong after Taylor Twellman's third-minute goal set the Revs on their way. The Revolution seemed to be cruising to a third consecutive league victory until Shalrie Joseph drew a second yellow card for delaying a restart in the 74th minute.
Joseph's departure gave the Fire the incentive to push forward. Gonzalo Segares scored a dipping, long-distance equalizer in the 81st minute to give the Fire a lifeline before Conde secured the points by poking home a rebound with four minutes left to play. The victory moves the Fire to within one point of the Revs in the Eastern Conference standings.
Chicago head coach Denis Hamlett made two changes from last week's 1-0 victory against Chivas USA. Cuauhtemoc Blanco returned from suspension in place of Chris Rolfe. Andy Herron came into the side for the injured Patrick Nyarko. The league's stingiest backline remained intact with Conde and Bakary Soumare controlling the middle and fullbacks Gonzalo Segares and Brandon Prideaux on either side.
Perhaps with one eye towards Tuesday's U.S. Open Cup semifinal clash with D.C. United, Revs head coach Steve Nicol left Kenny Mansally and Kheli Dube out of the squad entirely, sidelined with an ankle strain and groin strain respectively. Taylor Twellman made his first start of the season alongside Adam Cristman to replace Mansally and Dube. Chris Tierney earned the nod at left back in place of Amaechi Igwe.
A rare defensive lapse led to Twellman's opener. Conde gave the ball away, forcing Segares to slide over to block Twellman's shot and creating a corner kick opportunity. Mauricio Castro's service found Twellman at the back post. Twellman rose over Logan Pause and thumped home his header to give the Revs an early lead.
The early goal took a bit of the steam out of the game, with most of the first half play fought in midfield without troubling 'keepers Matt Reis and Jon Busch.
Chicago tried to exploit the Revolution back line over the top, looking for Herron to latch on to the ball in behind Jeff Larentowicz and Jay Heaps. That route wasn't productive even with Blanco trying to find space through the space-filling Revs defense.
What chances Chicago did manage to create in the first half came when they pushed the ball to the outside. John Thorrington drifted out to the left side of the penalty area and drove a cross to the left post. With the Revs defense pinched centrally to compensate, Marco Pappa found his space at the far post only to chunk his shot towards Reis. The Revs 'keeper turned it around the post as awkwardly as it was sent towards goal to divert the danger.
New England tried to push forward, but didn't create much in the way of opportunities aside from an Adam Cristman shot wide of the target and a Twellman effort over the bar.
Things picked up to start the second half as the Revs created two chances inside the opening 15 minutes.
Twellman played Cristman through on goal with a clever little touch. Cristman shot over the onrushing Busch, but managed to send his effort wide of the post.
Twellman turned receiver 10 minutes later after Steve Ralston poked through Soumare and sent the striker in towards goal. The resulting effort ended up well over the bar.
Joseph made his teammates wish they had converted those opportunities when he foolishly picked up a second yellow card in the 74th minute after knocking the ball out of Blanco's hands as he was attempting to take a throw-in. Referee Kevin Stott wasn't amused and sent Joseph from the field.
Joseph's absence turned the the game. With the additional space, the Fire pushed forward and found the two goals it would need to cap an improbable victory.
Not often could one expect to see Segares scoring from 35 yards, but his knuckling effort deceived Reis, dipping through his hands into the Revolution net to bring the Fire level.
Then it was left to Conde to seal the Fire's victory. Substitute Tomasz Frankowski hit a low shot to the far post that Reis couldn't handle cleanly. Conde was first to react to the rebound, poking it home. Cries that Reis had the ball in his grasp looked optimistic from the replay and New England was left to rue what was a comfortable victory gone haywire in the final 10 minutes, just their second loss in the last 18 games in all competitions.
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
