Revolution 1, Toronto 1: New England misses chance for three points at home

The New England Revolution were unable to parlay their first win of the season into a streak on Saturday night, settling for a 1-1 draw against the visiting Toronto FC. With the draw, the Revs now have seven points from six matches.

Kelyn Rowe kicked off the scoring for the Revolution in the 14th minute, but the home side was unable to make it stick. Sebastian Giovinco equalized in the 58th minute, leaving the two Eastern Conference rivals deadlocked.

New England played well to open the match, taking the majority of the initiative and creating several chances. Lee Nguyen in particular will regret missing a chance in the second minute where, all alone in the box, his attempt to chip Clint Irwin was instead right at the falling keeper.

Rowe's goal was the product of patient possession from the Revolution offense. Kelyn Rowe cycled the ball to Gershon Koffie and then got himself on the shoulder of the defense as Koffie shifted possession to Je-Vaughn Watson. Watson crossed for the far post, where Rowe had broken free of his marker and headed in.

Toronto saw more of the play as the match went on, and eventually it paid off. The Revs pushed an attack into the box but were unable to make anything of it; on the ensuing counter, Jozy Altidore laid off to Giovinco, whose shot was deflected and rolled past a wrong-footed Bobby Shuttleworth.

New England had several chances to get the win as the game wound to a close, with Kelyn Rowe denied at close range in the waning minutes of regulation, and Lee Nguyen denied what looked to be a great goal when the linesman flagged that the initial cross had gone out of bounds.

The Revs are back in action on Sunday, April 17th at 4 PM in Orlando.