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Steve Ralston scored on the penalty kick for the Revs' lone goal Saturday. (Chris Aduama/ADUAMA.com) |
Osei’s clearance however went right back to Colorado and just a few seconds later Casey gave Colorado the lead when he rose above the defense to head a Jordan Harvey cross from the left flank past Knighton for the 1-0 Colorado advantage.
“It was definitely frustrating to give up a goal in the first five minutes of the game,” said Knighton. “That’s not the way we want to start the game, but we found a way to come back and get a point. It just stinks we keep dropping points. One is better than zero, but we need to get three points.”
Up top, Ralston and Joseph, midfielders for their entire professional career did well keeping possession, but did not receive much service from the midfield.
“They’ve got brains, the two of them,” Nicol said. “Any good balls that we played up top Shalrie dealt with them well and the two of them I thought combined at times well. You can see they are smart football players. If we are going to play on fields that are as quick [as it was tonight], then obviously we need to think about [whether we use them up top]. As far as tonight was concerned, you can see the two guys can play. We couldn’t quite penetrate, but the two of them did well.”
“I can’t remember the last time I started as a forward,” said Ralston. “It was probably my junior year in college and last week was probably the first time [Shalrie] played since college. It was an adjustment. We worked on it a little in practice this week, but in game situations out there it’s a little different. I think it will take a little time.
“When you are a forward you want to get opportunities to score and I felt like we really didn’t have too many,” Ralston continued. “The game didn’t present that kind of opportunity. We need to do a better job holding the ball and things like that. I though a few times we had some good combinations, but obviously could have done a little bit better.”
Ralston and the Revs earned a penalty in the 17th minute when the Revs veteran was tripped up in the box by Ugo Ihemelu. Ralston took the penalty, getting Matt Pickens to commit to his left and then slotting it low into the opposite corner to tie the match at 1-1.
“Chris [Tierney] put a great ball in and it kind of bounced fortunately for me,” said Ralston. “I was getting ready to turn and hit it and somebody clipped my feet. I don’t know what happened. I just had contact and I thought it was a penalty. On the penalty itself I just try and wait him out and he went pretty early, so it was a pretty easy finish after that.”
Ralston almost caught Pickens off guard in the 28th minute, when he got down the right flank and sent in a shot from near the endline. Despite having almost no angle to shot from, Ralston managed to put his shot on target and Pickens could only tip it over the bar for a corner kick.
Knighton kept the game tied in the 37th minute, when Colin Clark played a perfect through ball to Ballouchy in the box. Ballouchy alone in the box sent a shot towards the far post, but Knighton managed to get to the ball with a diving save and tip it wide of the net.
“[Brad was] very calm,” said Nicol. “He made some saves and he made them look a lot easier probably than they were. The field was real quick, so the ball was moving real quick and he made them look pretty ordinary, but I’m sure they weren’t. It was a good solid display.”
The Revs had a chance in the 66th minute, when a long Darius Barnes throw-in found Chris Tierney in the left side of the box. Tierney cut back and sent a cross to the far post, where Joseph rose up above the defense to direct a powerful header on frame. A well positioned Pickens managed to punch it out for a corner kick.
Knighton was called into action again in the 79th minute, when Omar Cummings got the ball at the top of the box and unleashed a powerful bouncing shot with his left foot. Knighton managed to get down, making the save and holding onto the shot.
Colorado kept the Revs pinned back in their own half for much of the last ten minutes, but failed to really threaten Knighton again.
“That’s kind of unacceptable at home,” said defender Jay Heaps. “We should be going after them [at the end]. I think that was kind of the way the game went. We couldn’t hold it anywhere. From the back to the midfield we couldn’t get those passes together. It’s a tough surface, don’t get me wrong, but we should be a little bit better on it then they were and it was the other way tonight.”
The Revs next head to Canada to take on Toronto FC on Saturday, May 23 at 4 p.m.
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