Maybe the New England Revolution should chalk up Kansas City's success at Gillette Stadium to some form of wizardry. The way the Revs are finding ways to lose against the Wizards may just support that contention.
After Saturday night's 4-2 loss to a Wizards team that hadn't won in seven games and hadn't scored in 424 minutes coming into the contest, the Revs were left to rue the continuation of a dire pattern against the Wizards in Foxborough (5-10-5 all-time) and the continuation of a weird streak of calamities that have contributed to a poor overall run of form against K.C. (0-3-1 in past four MLS meetings).
In four of the past five meetings against the Wizards in all competitions, the Revs have picked up a red card and scored an own goal. That streak now includes Shalrie Joseph's 23rd minute ejection and Jay Heaps' deflection into his own net six minutes later.
While the red card and the own goal certainly impacted the proceedings, things were going particularly well before either of those two events. Darrius Barnes coughed up a longball and allowed Josh Wolff to set the table for Claudio Lopez's sixth goal of the season after just three minutes.
Once Joseph was sent from the field after exposing his studs but not making any contact when challenging for a bouncing ball with Jack Jewsbury and Heaps deflected Wolff's cross into his own net, the Revs had to find a way to keep themselves emerge out of the first half with a chance to set things right, according to stand-in goalkeeper Brad Knighton.
"(Joseph's red card) did not help the situation, but we were trying to keep it manageable until halftime and then come in here, make a couple of changes and go back out and show everybody the real team that we were and the character that we have on this team," Knighton said. "I thought we did that in the second half."
Even though the Revs were down to ten men during the second half, they pressed the majority of play as the Wizards sat back and tried to counter into the acres of space allotted by the short-handed Revs.
New England's pressure paid off when Edgaras Jankauskas side-volleyed home from just outside the penalty area in the 64th minute to hand the Revs a lifeline.
"That was definitely a boost," Knighton said. "We were needing a spark. We were right there in the game. I was kind of surprised when he hit it, but all of a sudden, it was in the back of the net."
Prosperity doesn't tend to last long for the Revs when they play the Wizards lately, so it was little surprise when Knighton - playing in place of the injured Matt Reis (knee) - couldn't quite handle Claudio Lopez's near-post pass intended for Josh Wolff. Wolff fired home the loose ball to restore the advantage.
"I have to come out stronger," Knighton said. "We met at the same time at the ball and it somehow just slipped through me. That one's mine. He put it in the top corner and finished his chance. All the credit to him."
Kheli Dube's near-post header handed the Revs a lifeline with nine minutes to play, but Wolff's second goal in second-half stoppage time ended New England's three-match winning streak.
Revolution head coach Steve Nicol kept his post-match remarks brief, but praised his team for responding to the adversity presented to them by the early red card and the poor start.
"What I will say is we're proud of our players tonight," Nicol said. "To go down a man so early after giving a goal away and come fighting back the way we did... At one stage, at 3-2, we looked as though we might get something from the game."
It wasn't in the cards for the Revs and the unrewarded second-half surge left Knighton wondering what could have been.
"It stinks for the guys in this lockerroom," Knighton said. "We know we could have won that game. The heart was there and the fans were behind us. It was one we let slip away, even with a man down."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
