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Revolution remain confident despite finishing March without a win

Photo by Noah K. Murray/USA Today Sports
Photo by Noah K. Murray/USA Today Sports

NEW YORK — The first month of the season came and went, and the New England Revolution finished it with some points but without a victory.

Nonetheless, they are confident that the tide will soon turn for the better.

The Revolution wrapped up playing in March this past Saturday by picking up a point in a 1-1 draw on the road against New York City FC. The result at Yankee Stadium was encouraging for the Revolution given that they played almost all of the second half with 10 men, but it left the club winless and with an 0-1-3 record.

Having just three points from four games might not be something to brag about, but head coach Jay Heaps and his players are not beating themselves up over the start of the season. Of course, they would like to have grabbed a win by now, but will take what they have earned given the circumstance.

“We’ve been on the road three of four (games), trying to get points on the road,” said Heaps. “Obviously if we go back and dissect each game, real disappointed we didn’t get our points at home against D.C. (United), but felt that it’s not about how the team is approaching the games. It’s not about how we’re preparing the game.

“It’s all about execution right now, and right now it’s cliche but it’s the final ball. It’s the final piece of the puzzle: the product to score the goal. Someone’s got to make the play.”

The Revolution could certainly use a boost in the goal-scoring department. After scoring three goals in a road draw with the Houston Dynamo in the season opener, the Revolution have found the back of the net just once. That happened in the first half on Saturday thanks to a free kick from Chris Tierney, though his strike likely would not have beaten NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders if not for a kind deflection from Steven Mendoza that would count as an own goal in several other leagues across the world.

Still, the Revolution are looking at things optimistically. They know they had some good chances to come out on top over the weekend even after losing Gershon Koffie to a straight red card in the 51st minute, and created those without playmaker Lee Nguyen on the field.

“We’re not down on ourselves,” said Tierney. “We think that we’ve got enough quality on our team that over the course of the season we’ll pick up enough points to be in a good position. Our confidence is staying high. We’re going to keep working hard to sharpen up in the final third and sharpen up defensively, and I think that you’ll see eventually that our quality will come through.”

Another factor that could help the Revolution be more productive up front is keeping all of their players on the field. The club has had someone sent off in each of its past two games, playing 93 of those 180 total minutes with a man disadvantage.

First, it was Je-Vaughn Watson getting sent for an early shower in the first half of a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of the Philadelphia Union. Then, it was Koffie this weekend vs. NYCFC, though Heaps certainly did not see eye-to-eye with the match official on that ejection.

“I disagree wholeheartedly with the fact that it was a red card. Adamantly, adamantly disagree with that call from Ricardo Salazar,” said Heaps. “But in the end, we have to keep 11 guys on the field, and quite frankly we need the referees to keep their red cards in their pocket. There’s no need for that.

“The game was perfectly going 11-v-11. There weren’t any dirty challenges, it was a fair game, so really disappointed in that decision. Disagree with it.”

The good news for the Revolution is that they are headed back to Gillette Stadium for a two-game April homestand that begins this Friday against the New York Red Bulls. A showdown with another Eastern Conference club in Toronto FC follows eight days later, and picking up the maximum six points from that pair of matches would send the Revolution up the standings.

It could also also get them rolling after a challenging start to the year.

“I think that win is coming soon,” said Charlie Davies. “When we do get those three points I think the monkey will be off our back and we can kind of settle and move forward as a team.”

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