RSL defender Nat Borchers was shown a red card and ejected in the 3d minute after he took down Revolution midfielder Benny Feilhaber from behind in the box.

Rajko Lekic took the ensuing penalty kick and blasted it into the upper left corner of the net to give New England (3-8-7) a 1-0 lead.

Chris Tierney made it 2-0 in the 16th minute.

RSL coach Jason Kreis never doubted that his team could dig itself out of that hole produced by going down a man.

“As a coach you have a lot of faith in your group,’’ Kreis said. “We’ve been through so many situations. We’ve been together so long, we’ve been through just about [every] situation. Maybe not that one, but just about every other type. That’s why I felt like we were going to get through this.’’

Will Johnson tapped in a rebound in the 14th minute for RSL (7-3-6) and Alvaro Saborio tied it in the 56th minute on a penalty kick.

Shalrie Joseph put New England ahead in the 63d minute.

“It’s kind of frustrating we were not able to hang onto the lead,’’ said Joseph, after the Revolution blew leads of 2-0 and 3-2. “That’s our season so far. We just haven’t been good enough so many times.’’

Kreis was pleased with the effort of his team to snatch a point when the odds seemed to be against them.

“It was a wild and crazy game,’’ Kreis said. “In the end, I guess the fireworks were out there on the field tonight even before [the fireworks show] after the game.’’

It cemented a comeback Revolution coach Steve Nicol thought should never have occurred.

“We threw two points away,’’ he said.