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Adam Cristman scored one of the Revs' two goals Thursday.(Chris Aduama/ADUAMA.com). |
Reis made another huge save in the 24th minute. This time Emilio played provider sending a nice pass to his right where Jaime Moreno was all alone. The Bolivian international powered a shot to the far post, but Reis managed to save it with his foot.
In the 33rd minute it was Reis again keeping the Revs in the game, when Fred got on the end of a nice long pass from Simms. The Brazilian ran into the box and put a hard shot on frame from just outside the 6-yard box, but Reis again saved the ball with his foot.
In the 53rd minute, Michael Parkhurst could only clear a deflection out to Moreno at the top of the box. Moreno put in a powerful shot that Reis parried, but it fell right to Fred who slotted it past Reis to make it 2-0. Several Revolution players and Steve Nicol complained after the match as Fred was down injured at the top of the box at the start of the play and players from both teams were calling to play the ball out so he could receive treatment.
"From now on I'm certainly going to instruct my team that whenever somebody goes down injured don't stop playing," said Nicol. "They could've scored five. I certainly don't want to take away from that, but the second goal they scored our team stopped playing. Not only was our team telling them to kick it out, but their own players were telling them to kick it out. From that point of view somebody needs to do something because in the future my players will not be stopping."
"I thought we should have done better with it, but having said that, when you are go down with an injury and you are going to stay down, you should stay down," said veteran defender Jay Heaps. "You shouldn't get up halfway through."
Cristman finally pulled one back for the Revs in the 59th minute. Mauricio Castro sent in a cross from the left flank that a D.C. defender brought down, but Dube got the ball and turned and sent a pass to Cristman near the penalty spot. The second year striker sent a shot past Wells to the corner for his second goal of the year.
"All I remember is Dube shot it and it deflected," said Cristman. "It fell right in front of me and I was just in the perfect spot. I was able to just pass it in the goal."
Dube tied it at 2-2 in the 72nd minute. Dube also started the play by earning a nice free kick on the right flank. Steve Ralston took the set piece and sent in a cross to the far post where an unmarked Jeff Larentowicz headed it back across goal. Dube was there to head it home into the empty net for his third goal in as many games.
"Some days you aren't going to get a lot of chances, but you get one or two chances, so you have to utilize those kind of chances," said Dube. "It is kind of tough in this league. You've got big defenders and for small forwards it's real hard to get those chances, especially when you are playing the ball in the air. The space opened and Jeff hit a good assist to me."
In the absence of first choice strikers Taylor Twellman (ankle injury) and Kenny Mansally (Gambian National Team duty), Nicol opted to pair Sainey Nyassi up top with Dube. With the Revs attack failing to create chances in the first half, Nicol brought in Cristman for Wells Thompson in just the 39th minute, moving Nyassi back to right midfield and putting Cristman up top. The move paid dividends with Nyassi looking much more effective on the right wing and Cristman working well with Dube up top.
"The change definitely helped us," said Nicol after the match. "That's without a shadow of a doubt. In the first half we were bringing them onto us and we couldn't get out. We decided to switch it around and get in behind them."
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