Ralston takes bull by horns
His goal earns tie for Revolution
FOXBOROUGH - Soccer players often move backward as they age, their decreasing speed of foot and increasing sagacity more suited to defending than attacking.
Consider Steve Ralston an exception to the rule.
Ralston has played as a defender and midfielder since joining the Revolution in 2002, moving to an attacking midfield spot this season.
Last night, Ralston performed as a forward for the first time since 1993, when he was at Florida International University. The move paid off as Ralston scored the equalizing goal in the 79th minute as the Revolution extended their unbeaten streak to seven games with a 1-1 tie against the New York Red Bulls.
The Revolution (8-3-3, 27 points), who visit Real Salt Lake Saturday, struggled with possession against the defensive-minded and injury-weakened Red Bulls (4-4-4, 16 points), who snapped an eight-game losing streak at Gillette Stadium.
"We were hoping to make them think differently up front," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said of the Ralston position switch. "Rallie's attributes are passing and holding the ball. We wanted to keep it tight and get the ball wide more often. In the last 10 minutes and injury time [four minutes] we got the ball wide more often than we did the rest of the game. That caused them problems. We got the goal and we could have had another."
Ralston's header nearly resulted in a tiebreaking goal in the 89th minute, Jon Conway stopping the shot and making a spectacular one-handed save on Kheli Dube's rebound.
The Red Bulls took the lead as the Revolution played a man down in the 37th minute. Seth Stammler converted a right-footed volley off a Dave van den Bergh cross, scoring from near a spot where Mauricio Castro was supposed to be positioned. But Castro (rib strain) remained down after being injured while attempting a cross.
"There is some inconsistency in the rule," Revolution defender Jay Heaps said of Red Bulls' failure to play the ball out to allow Castro to receive treatment. "We've been burned by it both ways. This was 3 vs. 2, Shalrie [Joseph] and I were trying to cover three guys."
The Revolution are 5-0-2 since May 3, including a 2-2 tie with D.C. United May 29 that included a D.C. goal scored with a United player down and the Revolution expecting the ball to be played out.
Last night, the Revolution moved Ralston to a forward spot next to Dube in the 72d minute, Adam Cristman departing and Pat Phelan entering as a holding midfielder, Joseph taking an attacking role.
The move paid off following a Red Bull corner kick. Van den Bergh took the corner from the right side, abandoning his right back spot, and struggling to recover as the Revolution countered. Sainey Nyassi advanced on the right wing, the Red Bulls adjusting to van den Bergh's absence, the clearance going directly to Heaps. Dube sent Heaps's cross from the back post to Ralston, who took a touch in front of defender Andrew Boyens and finished into the left corner seven minutes after switching positions.
Ralston had been limited for most of the game by Carlos Mendes, normally a defender, who was in a midfield marking role.
"We started passing and moving a lot better, getting crosses in the box," Ralston said of the tactical change.
Ralston and Dube nearly broke the tie in the 89th minute. Nyassi's cross was headed low by Ralston, but Conway pushed the shot away and reached out to deflect Dube's follow for a corner.
"I should have done better with the header," Ralston said. "[Conway] made an amazing stop on Kheli. But I'll be thinking about that header for a while."
Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com.
