Pros

Dorman saves Revs again By Andrew Hush at Gillette Stadium
June 17, 2006


New England Revolution 1-1 DC United

Andy Dorman

The Revolution came up with another great escape as Andy Dorman continued his happy knack of scoring vital late goals. The midfielder turned sharply to fire home through a crowded penalty area in the 86th minute, to save a point for the home side that it richly deserved but looked unlikely to get following Jaime Moreno’s 44th minute goal for DC United.

Having seen a succession of golden chances wasted, the Revolution looked as through it would slip to its second 1-0 defeat in two weeks to Peter Nowak’s side. However, after Dorman himself was fouled to the right of the DC penalty area some forty yards from goal, Jose Cancela’s lofted free-kick caused panic in the visiting defense.

Taylor Twellman flicked the ball goalwards, only for it to hit the unaware Bobby Boswell. First to react of the right of the six-yard box was Dorman, who swiveled and shot in the far corner, to the relief of the 16,209 crowd.

The Revs had fallen behind on the verge of half-time when Jaime Moreno scored his eighth goal of the year, driving home a 25-yard shot following a pass from Lucio Filmeno that Tony Lochhead could not stretch far enough to cut out.

The goal was hard on the Revs, who had carried the game to the Eastern Conference leaders and should have taken the lead before Moreno struck. On his full MLS debut, Kyle Brown had a fine game and should have capped it with a goal in the 19th minute. The rookie forward found himself in front of goal with only Troy Perkins to beat, only to fire over with the goal gaping.

On the half hour, Dorman’s run from his position on the right of midfield was timed perfectly to meet the astute pass of Jeff Larentowicz. With Josh Gros struggling to make up ground, Dorman fired his shot beyond Perkins, only to see the ball rebound off the far post.

Perkins is a former Cape Cod Crusader and the DC United keeper clearly enjoyed his return to familiar surroundings with a performance that his manager would later hail as being an MVP display. Four minutes before the break, Perkins made his first crucial stop when he foiled Twellman with his legs. The Revs striker was played through by a long ball from Tony Lochhead and seemed certain to score. However, as Perkins dived to his right, he managed to stretch out a leg to deflect the shot to safety.

Despite being behind, the Revs of the second half continued the trend of the first by controlling the bulk of possession. Twellman saw a flicked header deflect wide in the 52nd minute, before having a shot cleared off the line by Brian Namoff three minutes later, to end a move that began with another save from Perkins in a one on one situation, this time from Brown.

The best save of the night from the DC stopper came in the 61st minute when, off-balance, he somehow managed to extend his leg again to keep out the goalbound effort of Steve Ralston, that had taken a deflection and was heading for the bottom left corner. The frustration almost grew for the Revs nine minutes later when Freddy Adu was put through on goal by Moreno, but Matt Reis proved that both goalkeepers were on top form with a fine save.

Reis was alert again moments later when he made a key intervention to prevent Moreno’s cross reaching the unmarked Filomeno in front of goal and, following Dorman’s leveler, the Revs keeper was called on to push over the header of Boswell, as the DC defender went close to amending for his error by almost grabbing a winner his side would scarcely have deserved.

Revolution: Reis, Heaps, Parkhurst, Larentowicz, Dorman, Joseph, Brown (Wynn 89), Ralston, Cancela, Lochhead, Twellman

Subs not used: Tomasso (GK), Haggerty, Sims, Galik, Williamson

Goal: Dorman 86

Booked: Joseph

DC United: Perkins, Erpen, Boswell, Gros, Namoff, Adu, B. Carroll, Gomez, Simms, Moreno, Filomeno (Walker 78)

Subs not used: Rimando (GK), J. Carroll, McTavish, Mediate, Nickell, Wilson

Goal: Moreno 44

Booked: Gomez, Moreno

Referee: Brian Hall

Attendance: 16,209