VANCOUVER, B.C. – A mix of emotions swept through the New England Revolution when Ilija Stolica grabbed a last-gasp equalizer to secure a 1-1 draw in Vancouver on Wednesday night, but it's hard to pinpoint the exact composition of it.
WATCH: FULL MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
Was it relief at grasping a road result at the last moment? Was it frustration for not accomplishing more despite playing the entire second half with a one-man – and, for 18 minutes, a two-man – advantage? Was it sheer confusion at the conclusion of one of the oddest matches these players will ever see?
In the end, Revolution coach Steve Nicol settled on one phrase to capture the peculiar moment: “It's really weird.”
“We feel as though we should have wanted to win the game, but we didn't make enough chances to win the game, to be honest," said Nicol. "With the amount of the ball we had, we should have done better with it. But we're away from home and if we picked up a point every time we went away from home during the season, we should be happy.”
The confusion stemmed from a wild second half. New England entered the second stanza with a man advantage after Vancouver's Gershon Koffie picked up a red card for elbowing Pat Phelan on the stroke of halftime. Whitecaps substitute Eric Hassli scored the opener from the penalty spot despite the numerical deficit, and then instantly handed the Revs a two-man advantage after 56 minutes by taking off his shirt in celebration to earn a second yellow card.
[inline_node:333149]At the exact moment when the Revs should have established their superiority, they instead stalled out as a lack of creativity and quality in the final third undermined their hopes of converting a quick equalizer.
“They did well at the back,” Phelan said. “Our quality in the final third wasn't good enough. We were almost a little too patient at times. When we got in the final third, we didn't accelerate our play, we didn't have enough movement off the ball or enough creativity. That really hurt us.”
With a quarter of an hour to go, the visitors perked up a bit as a series of events conspired to urge them forward. Revolution defender A.J. Soares earned a red card from referee Baldomero Toledo for his challenge on Atiba Harris to reduce New England to 10 men, followed by the insertion of Chris Tierney for Sainey Nyassi to improve the service into the penalty area.
In addition to those tangible events, the progression of time also favored the Revs as the Whitecaps started to feel the effects of their hard work.
“They continued to run out of gas,” Phelan said. “It started to set in as it went on a little bit longer. We couldn't explain it to ourselves if we don't get something out of it. We were fortunate enough to stick in there.”
It appeared the Revs found their equalizer with five minutes left in regulation as Stolica headed home Tierney's service from the left, but the assistant referee ruled the effort out for offside.
WATCH: Stolica finally breaks through
One last bit of persistence ultimately secured the draw as Zack Schilawski knocked down Phelan's cross for Stolica to bundle home at the near post to complete a crazy night and sustain the Revs' four-match unbeaten run heading into Saturday's home date with Real Salt Lake.
“I got another chance,” Stolica said. “Fortunately, there was a second one. We had an advantage – first two guys, then one guy – and we finally scored. ... It's a good point for us. It's important that we stay unbeaten for four games in a row. In the next game, we have to try to win at home.”
