The New England Revolution and the Columbus Crew drew 0-0 tonight in front of 12,218 fans at Gillette Stadium.
Revs coach Jay Heaps was left bemoaning his sides inability to take their chances and get the win tht would have taken them above Columbus in the standings.
New England’s Achilles heel the last couple of season has been its inability to score, with only 16 goals in 13 games this season.
And that lack of composure in front of goal really hurt New England tonight. The Revs should have scored inside the opening minute when a nice passing move carved open the Crew defense, but Benny Feilhaber dragged his shot wide when he should have scored.
Then at the 15 minute mark, Feilhaber freed Jose Moreno with a terrific through ball, but the Columbian striker’s poor first touch took him a little wide of the goal allowing Andy Gruenebaum to make a relatively easy safe.
New England kept pressing forward and Saer Sene hit the frame of the goal from 30 yards in the 29th minute with a terrific shot and then in the 37th minute Gruenebaum made back to back saves to deny Cardenas.
Columbus almost made New England pay for those missed chances when Mirosevic’s shot rockets off the crossbar in added time at the end of the first half.
The second half was a lot more cat and mouse with few chances to either side. The best chance of the second half fell to Renteria in the 63rd minute but he somehow missed the target from inside the six-yard box.
So a disappointing home draw for New England. After a two-week break this was a big chance for Jay Heaps side to really get itself into the Eastern Conference playoff race and the Revs have to view this as two points dropped and not one point gained.
Jay Heaps side is still searching for its identity. While Saer Sene and Lee Nguyen have been great signings, Jose Moreno and Fernando Cardenas have still not lived up to their advance billing as top players. If New England is going to grab a top four position in the conference, they need Moreno and Cardenas to start to show the kind of talent of a consistent basis that caught the Revolutions eye in the first place.
