Photo/Kari Heistad
New England Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth made two penalty kick saves on Sunday afternoon against the Philadelphia Union at PPL Park, though his side still lost 3-0.
Shuttleworth, who couldn’t prevent New England (0-1-2, 1 point) from losing their first game of the season, became the first Revs keeper to save two penalties in a game since October 2004, when Matt Reis achieved the feat in a 1-1 Eastern Conference semifinal tie against the Columbus Crew.
But a victory wasn’t on the cards for the Revolution this time around. Philadelphia’s CJ Sapong scored twice inside the game’s first 33 minutes, while New England went down to 10 men thanks to Je-Vaughn Watson getting ejected for a studs-up tackle on Roland Alberg in the 36th minute.
Lee Nguyen hit both posts off a freekick shortly before referee Nima Saghafi red carded Watson for the Revolution’s best chance of the day.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia’s Sebastien Le Toux, who came on in the 58th minute for Allberg, scored in second half stoppage time to make it 3-0.
After starting their season off brightly with a three-goal performance in a tie against the Houston Dynamo, the Revolution, who were also held scoreless in their home opener against DC United last week, seem to be getting progressively worse.
The Revs were without Charlie Davies (hamstring) on Sunday and were forced to use Teal Bunbury as the lone forward in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but struggled overall to connect passes and create chances.
Both Femi Hollinger-Janzen and Zachary Herivaux made their MLS debuts for the Revolution off the bench and looked sharp, which was a stark contrast to their teammates’ collective form.
Meanwhile, Juan Agudelo entered the match for Diego Fagundez near the hour mark and provided some needed hold-up play while also firing the team’s best chance of the second half: a low drive that Union keeper Andre Blake dropped low to parry in the 88th minute.
The Revolution will now travel to New York to play NYCFC at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
