Revolution can't cut it against Crew

FOXBOROUGH - While the rain poured and the clock ticked, the New England Revolution were granted a golden opportunity to knock off the league's best team last night.

Columbus Crew defender Frankie Hejduk received his second yellow card after he appeared to make contact with Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis as Reis was putting the ball in play after a save in the 65th minute. Hejduk was ejected and the Crew, protecting a 1-0 lead, were down a man.

The Crew were also without league-assist leader Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who sat out with a hamstring strain.

It was a glorious chance for the Revolution to gain ground on the Crew. But the chance came and went as the Revolution fell, 1-0, in front of 15,035 at Gillette Stadium.

"It's just disappointing," said Revolution midfielder Jeff Larentowicz. "It's an opportunity gone by the wayside that we had staring us in the face at home against a team whose arguably best player is out. It's a time that we all need to look at ourselves in the mirror and really change things before next weekend."

The win allowed the Crew (15-6-5) to extend their lead in the Eastern Conference to 8 points over the Revolution (12-8-6). The Crew, the only team in Major League Soccer to have clinched a playoff berth, improved their chances of winning the Supporters' Shield (awarded to the team with the most points) with four games left in the regular season. Last night's match also presented a chance for the Revolution to pull away from the Chicago Fire (12-9-5), who are 1 point behind New England.

"It was a huge test and we basically failed it," Revolution midfielder Shalrie Joseph said. "We wanted to put more pressure on them to get the Supporters' Shield and we came up short."

The Revolution struggled from the start, unable to move the ball through the middle and create chances.

"In the first half, if not for most of the game, we were just dumb," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "If you look at how they played and how we played, particularly [in the] first half, we tried to make passes in the middle of our own half and they just squeezed us.

"And that's OK. We know there are times when you have to play the game ugly. But [last night], there wasn't a need for playing pretty passes and getting through people, because we did that and we tried that and it didn't work but we weren't smart enough to change it."

While the Revolution struggled, the Crew managed to convert one opportunity.

In the 35th minute, the Crew's Robbie Rogers sent in a corner kick from the left to the center of the box. Defender Chad Marshall rushed in behind the crowd and used his 6-foot-4-inch height to head in his fourth goal of the season, the first allowed by the Revolution off a corner this season.

The Revolution switched from a 4-4-2 formation to a 3-5-2 in the 59th minute. Nicol brought on winger Sainey Nyassi for defender Gabriel Badilla, and Kheli Dube for fellow forward Kenny Mansally in an effort to create more offense.

The Revolution became more aggressive but could not beat goalkeeper William Hesmer, who had two saves.

Six minutes after Hejduk was ejected, Steve Ralston sent a pass from midfield to Nyassi, who got ahead of the Crew defenders but Hesmer came out for the save.

In the final minutes, the Revolution's chances either sailed high or wide of the goal.

The Revolution, 1-2-3 in their last six MLS games, host Real Salt Lake Saturday.

"It has nothing to do with attitude or the commitment of the players," Nicol said. "We just weren't smart. We were going about it in the wrong way, and we didn't change it. We have to realize if we do one thing and it's not working, we have to change it. If you keep banging on the door and nobody opens it, then you have to find another way of getting in."