In a switch, Revolution unable to click
FOXBOROUGH -- The Revolution tried nearly everything and kept going for the goal until the end of last night's 0-0 tie with Real Salt Lake. But the visitors' well-organized defending and some spectacular saves by Nick Rimando led to the Revolution's first scoreless game since their season opener and first scoreless home match since Aug. 20.
"We had chances but not a lot of quality chances," Revolution forward Taylor Twellman said. "They got what they came here for -- they started the second half with 11 men in their half.
"It was one of those games. The final pass, the final shot wasn't there. But we've got to move on."
Twellman and teammates Michael Parkhurst and Steve Ralston will be doing that today, joining the US national team for the June 6-24 Gold Cup, and missing the Revolution's next match (against Columbus June 16) plus as many as two others.
Before this game, the Revolution were averaging two goals per match and Twellman (seven goals) was the leading scorer in Major League Soccer. But the Revolution (5-2-3, 18 points) fell into second place in the overall standings behind Kansas City and Twellman lost his scoring lead as Eddie Johnson (nine goals) scored three times in the Wizards' 3-2 victory over New York.
Real Salt Lake (0-3-6, 6 points) remained in last place in the overall standings but is apparently trying to regroup with Jason Kreis having taken over as head coach and guiding the team to an 0-1-4 record, extending a 13-match winless streak over two seasons.
The Revolution kept the pressure on until the end, finally getting past Rimando with a Jay Heaps header that was headed off the line by Andy Williams in the 89th minute.
"I thought it was in," Heaps said. "Sometimes you just hit it right. But Andy Williams was there and cleared it off the line.
"I wouldn't consider this a bad game; it was a good game for us, but it wasn't our best for attacking as a team. We were a step off. It's such a timing game. Our forwards made great runs but the ball either died out or slipped through."
The Revolution lost their season opener at Chicago (1-0) but went on a seven-match unbeaten streak despite a travel-heavy schedule, then came home for a loss to the Wizards (4-3) May 26.
"Nine times out of 10 Jay's header goes in," Twellman said. "Instead, Andy Williams heads it 30 yards out so there is no rebound."
Andy Dorman had the Revolution's best first-half chance, a 30-yard blast that was tipped over the bar by Rimando in the 21st minute. Real Salt Lake also had chances in a wide-open first half, Freddy Adu hitting the goal support in the 30th minute and finding Chris Klein for a point-blank shot that was punched out by Matt Reis in the 45th minute.
Twellman's best chance resulted as defender Jack Stewart slipped in the penalty area, the shot stopped by Rimando in the 56th minute. Three minutes later, Dorman's left-footer was blocked by a sliding Klein near the goal area.
The Revolution added substitutes Pat Noonan and Wells Thompson, plus Bryan Byrne, who was cautioned (72d) a minute after making his MLS debut as a replacement for Khano Smith. Real Salt Lake's Ritchie Kotschau was ejected 50 seconds after entering the game for a hard tackle from behind on Byrne, referee Baldomero Toledo immediately red-carding him in the 82d minute.
Rimando stopped Ralston's low shot (84th) and Jeff Larentowicz's deflected drive (88th).
"In the first half, we had five great balls through the 6-yard box that we never got on the end of," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "In the second half, we pressure and pressure them but there was not a lot of space. If you want to be overly critical, you could say some balls could have been better. But the positive is we never gave them chances, and when you are pressing so much, they can end up stealing one the other way."
Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com. 