When the ball is down on a set piece and the New England Revolution call their play, more than likely Chris Tierney is the guy to push it back into the action.
In Saturday night's 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Union, the Revs were rewarded twice by his accurate strikes as Tierney pitched in with a goal and assist to help the high-flyng Revs to their fourth straight victory.
“We’ve been working hard on set pieces,” said coach Jay Heaps to the media following Saturday’s win. “It’s nice to get a free kick [goal] and then Chris Tierney’s assist to A.J. [Soares] was excellent.”
That assist opened the scoring in the eight-goal affair, with Tierney putting the perfect bend on a corner kick from the left side as Soares sliced in towards the line and perfectly redirected a header under the cross bar to put New England up in the 13th minute.
It was the second straight week that Tierney, one of the team's primary corner takers with 18 deliveries this season, has notched an assist, and the 23rd time over his seven-year career.
“Whenever you can knick goals on set pieces, it’s very important,” Tierney told the media following the game. “It’s obviously something that we work on a lot. Credit to A.J., what a great run and finish.”
Tierney also notched his first goal of the season just 12 minutes into the second half, which turned out to be the game-winner after Philadelphia pulled two back later in the second half.
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On a free kick from the top of the box Tierney left-footed a blast high and around the wall, out of the reach of Union 'keeper Zac MacMath, putting the Revs up 4-1 in the 57th minute.
“Chris really stepped up huge,” said Heaps. “It’s something that we always work on it, but there are times when things aren’t going well, teams are defending well. Tonight was a little different getting a couple of set piece goals. Those always lift you when you need a couple of goals.”
“It’s important for us, anytime we can score goals on set pieces,” said Tierney. “It gives us a chance to steal goals and steal points.”
