FOXBOROUGH — The Revolution’s lineup tweaks failed to make a difference in the early going as they extended their home unbeaten streak Saturday night. But coach Jay Heaps made a late change that nearly paid off as the Revolution played to 2-2 tie with D.C. United, their eighth home game without a defeat, dating to last season.
After falling behind, 2-1, late in the opening half, the Revolution equalized on an early second-half own goal, then squandered excellent chances to take the lead as Kei Kamara hit the post with a header and substitute Teal Bunbury scuffed the rebound in the 81st minute.
The sequence was set up by a cross from substitute left back Chris Tierney, who had been replaced in the starting lineup by Kelyn Rowe for the second time in four games.
“A lot of games in this week,’’ Heaps said of the lineup change. “Felt Kelyn would get a lot of the ball the first parts of the game, and he did. I wanted to bring Chris in and have a little bit of a fresh look out there. And it was right there. I thought that was the goal that was going to come. Great ball from Chris into Kei, hit the post, and then we had the chance for the second goal.’’
Kamara sent the cross off the inside of the near post, the rebound going to Bunbury just outside the goal area. But Bunbury’s one-time left-foot attempt squibbed wide right.
“I saw Kei head it and I don’t know how it didn’t go in,’’ Tierney said. “Just bad luck. Sometimes you get the bounces, sometimes you don’t.
“We played some good stuff. We gave up soft goals, we need to button a few things up. It probably sounds old to even some of us, but I really think that’s the truth. So, we’re going to stay positive, keep moving forward. We like the group we have, we feel like if we keep playing the way we are, button a few things up, we’ll be in good shape.’’
The Revolution (2-3-3, 9 points), who had a six-game home winning streak snapped with a scoreless tie against San Jose Wednesday, extended their home unbeaten streak to eight games.
Lee Nguyen opened the scoring for the Revolution, heading just inside the left post off a Kamara cross, the sequence started on a Juan Agudelo breakout. Agudelo ran through the center, passed to Scott Caldwell on the right, Caldwell touching on to Kamara on the right of the penalty area.
The Revolution controlled the tempo with high-pressing tactics, setting up a Kamara header, saved at the back post by Bill Hamid (16th minute) and a Kamara near-whiff off a Diego Fagundez rebound (24th).
D.C. (2-3-2, 8 points) almost equalized as Ian Harkes hit the left post with a low shot off a 14th-minute corner kick, then scored twice in a two-minute span. Jared Jeffrey ran on to a Kamara headed clearance to score from the penalty arc (26th minute) and Sebastien Le Toux finished off a Lloyd Sam assist, one-timing a low shot past an onrushing Cody Cropper from the edge of the right side of the penalty area in the 28th minute. United continued to threaten as Sean Franklin had a shot saved off a 37th-minute corner and Kamara nearly surrendered an own goal with a 40th-minute header off a free kick off the bar.
“Coming in, we thought two things would hurt us — counter attack and set pieces,’’ Heaps said. “You can prepare and work on it — game’s on the line you have to be prepared to do it. And, unfortunately, our set piece defending wasn’t good enough. Don’t get me wrong, we had chances, too. It’s just got to be better there.’’
The Revolution equalized on a 49th-minute Franklin own goal off a corner kick. The Revolution’s pressing paid off early in the second half, a Fagundez cross setting up a corner kick. Rowe’s second corner attempt was headed into the goal area by Antonio Delamea, bouncing in off Franklin in front of Agudelo.
“Believe me, we had a nice conversation at halftime, to really see what we are made of,’’ Heaps said. “The game went the wrong way, for me, for about 15-20 minutes there. Second half was great energy, great effort, we knew we were going to get one back and we really pushed for the last one up to the last minute. And we gave them a chance, too — could’ve been 4-4.
“I think we’re pressing. We’re passing when we should be shooting, shooting when we should be passing. I think the decision-making in that final third was a little over aggressive, because the other night, I felt we were a little passive. We can’t continue to overreact in those moments. I looked in the locker room and guys were absolutely gutted, because they put a lot into this week. Two games back-to-back at home, two teams came in that were rested and ready to play, and it was tough for us to really finish our chances the way we know we can.’’
