The New England Revolution was vastly outplayed by Toronto FC at BMO Field on Sunday afternoon, but a few lucky breaks propelled them to an important, 3-1 win.
Toronto out-shot the Revolution 21-7 but surrendered early via an own goal before Diego Fagundez doubled the Revolution’s lead just before halftime. Robbie Findley pulled one back for the hosts in a second half rally, but the Revolution’s Kelyn Rowe came off the bench to close out the result with the game’s last goal.
The Revolution, who have won five straight games and haven’t lost since July 11, have taken full control of the Eastern Conference’s fourth place playoff spot and have edged Toronto in the three-game, regular season series, 2-0-1. Toronto, meanwhile, has now lost four in their last seven and sits six points behind the Revolution in fifth place.
The topsy-turvy difference in the number of shots for both teams was irrelevant to the fast-paced, end-to-end contest that graced the rain-soaked, Ontario crowd.
It didn’t take long for either side to go at goal, either. The game’s first chance came just one minute in, a Toronto giveaway leading to Lee Nguyen firing an 18-yard shot wide of the right post. Moments later, Findley hit the crossbar with a header and then blasted the rebound’s botched clearance off goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth’s fingertips.
Both of those early chances were the prelude to a match that continued to be high-octane.
The opening goal came in just the fourth minute, as Jermaine Jones threaded a pass for Teal Bunbury, who was running into the right side of the box. Bunbury centered the ball looking for Charlie Davies, though the feed took a fortuitous deflection off of Toronto’s Damien Perquis and found its way into the net past goalkeeper Joe Bendik.
Toronto took over the game’s momentum for more than a half hour after conceding, but couldn’t equalize, as Fagundez scored against the run of play in the 39th minute. Fagundez smacked his fifth goal of the season from outside the penalty area into the back of the net after receiving the ball from Nguyen, who entered into the attack via a give-and-go play with Bunbury.
Toronto, who out-shot the Revolution 10-2 in the first half and dominated play at the beginning of the second, worked through Sebastian Giovinco and Michael Bradley in the attack.
Giovinco fired a free kick just wide of goal in the 11th minute, then Bradley missed 25-yard shot from the left side of the field in the 35th, and then Findley missed again from point-blank range as he tried to slide feed from Marco Delgado past Shuttleworth just before halftime.
Giovinco had the first chance of the second half, his 47th minute chip flying over Shuttleworth but getting cleared off the line by Jose Goncalves.
Findley missed again on the right side of the box in the 49th minute, his effort off a Bradley pass bouncing just wide of the far post, but converted a header from the center of the penalty area in the 56th minute to finally make it 2-1.
Findley’s goal snapped the Revolution’s 340-minute shutout streak.
Toronto seemed to have even more momentum after Findley’s goal, but ultimately fell behind even further as the Revolution scored their third goal through in the 71st minute, again against the run of play.
An unforced error by Bradley allowed Rowe, who entered the game in the 62nd minute for Bunbury, to capitalize. Bradley coughed up possession in the box in the 71st minute, Rowe running onto the loose ball and pounding it past Bendik to make it 3-1.
Toronto seemed demoralized thereafter, as the Revolution were able to further stretch the field of play. Giovinco had the last chance of the game, though, his line-drive from inside the box palmed away by Shuttleworth in the 84th minute.
The result all but confirms that the Revolution will make the playoffs for the third straight season, though they’ll need another win on Wednesday night against the Red Bulls, plus results involving Chicago, New York City FC, and Orlando to go their way.
Jones will be suspended for Wednesday’s match due to yellow card accumulation; he dragged down Findley in the 27th minute on Sunday and was subsequently yellow carded by referee Baldomero Toledo.
If you want to reach Julian email him at julianccardillo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @juliancardillo
