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Revs leave it late in draw with Rapids

Jul 24, 2011 - 3:30 AM Commerce City, CO (Sports Network) - The New England Revolution persevered in its second consecutive road game, earning a tough 2-2 draw with the Colorado Rapids Saturday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

After losing to the Philadelphia Union 3-0 on July 17th, New England showed great resiliency to beat DC United 1-0 at RFK Stadium on Wednesday night.

Colorado were fresh off of a 4-1 Wednesday night thrashing of Red Bull New York behind a Sanna Nyassi hat trick.

New England looked as though it could be in for a long night, as goalkeeper Matt Reis was called into action in the opening minute of the match, making a sprawling save on a Kosuke Kimura shot from distance.

But what followed that early Colorado scoring chance was a rare display from the Revs.

The Revolution played collectively as a unit, keeping their shape, making smart passes, and refusing to give the ball away cheaply. It was precisely that discipline that helped the Revs break through first.

In the 25th minute, a long throw-in from Kevin Alston was flicked on by Stephen McCarthy before Benny Feilhaber, making a blistering run through the box, headed a powerful shot past Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens to give the Revs the lead.

Sanna Nyassi picked up right where he left off against New York, getting himself into dangerous positions time after time and utilizing his pace to find open space. New England did well to neutralize Colorado's most potent offensive weapon by making several crucial last stitch tackles to break-up Nyassi's fluent movement.

The Revs continued their disciplined play in the second half, keeping possession and minimizing the costly mistakes that have plagued them all season long.

Unfortunately for New England, a two very costly mistakes eventually came, nearly causing the Revs to surrender all three points.

In the 64th minute, New England defender Chris Tierney brought down Nyassi from behind in the box to give the Rapids a penalty kick. Adding insult to injury, Tierney was shown a red card as he was judged to have been the last man.

Rapids striker Caleb Folan took the ensuing penalty kick and converted to equalize for Colorado.

A horrendous goalkeeping error from Reis gave Colorado the lead in the 82nd minute.

Kimura pumped a long-ball into the box, blindly searching for a teammate, but the ball ended up finding the back of the net as it bounced over an on-rushing Reis.

It would have been a terrible way to lose a match that the Revolution did not necessarily deserve to lose.

But New England garnered a point after referee Geoff Gamble pointed to the penalty spot when Scott Palguta brought down Sainey Nyassi in the box. Shalrie Joseph converted the spot kick in the 90th minute to claim a point for his side.

New England (4-9-8) will gladly claim the point given how the second half unfolded, and it will look to continue its impressive play after the All-Star Game when it travels to Livestrong Sporting Park to face Sporting Kansas City on July 30th. Colorado (7-6-10) will travel to Philadelphia to face the Union at PPL Park on July 29th.