Revolution forced to settle for home draw against St. Louis

It was the answer first-year Revolution coach Caleb Porter was looking for as two goals 12 minutes apart turned an early one-goal deficit into a 2-1 halftime lead Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.

But St. Louis City FC continued its physical play for most of the second half and got Simon Becher’s equalizer with 17 minutes left to deny New England the three points it wanted in a 2-2 draw in front of a rain-soaked crowd in Foxborough.

The Revolution, looking to rebound from a 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake, had to settle for a draw to improve to 8-15-3 on the year, or 27 points, just 1 point off the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

The hosts can thank their goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic for securing the point, as he made nine saves.

The Revolution was without central defender Xavier Arreaga, away on international duty with Ecuador, and midfielder Esmir Bajraktarevic, from his native Bosnia-Herzegovina.

St. Louis (5-10-13) took advantage, taking nearly double the number of shots (21-11) and the majority of corners (7-2) on the night as it extended its MLS unbeaten streak to four games (1-0-3).

But the Revolution had a chance to claim a penalty on a possible St. Louis handball in the final minutes, and referee Timothy Ford went to review the play but waved off any infraction – a decision that left Porter furious.

“We’re very disappointed with the refereeing. It’s 100 percent a penalty,” Porter said, also noting that the Revolution are the only team in MLS not to award a penalty this season. “I don’t know how you can look at the screen and decide not to award a penalty. It’s a tragedy, and we need to be held accountable for that decision because we lost two points because of that decision.”

The visitors scored the first goal of the game in the 23rd minute, courtesy of a face once familiar to the Foxborough faithful.

Henry Kessler, who spent five years with the Revolution before being traded for fellow centre-back Tim Parker in early August, rose to head Marcel Hartel’s right-wing corner perfectly over Ivacic’s outstretched hand and inside the far post.

It was a perfect, unstoppable header, but the hosts found the perfect response.

Just five minutes after Kessler’s opener, a simple move from the back turned into gold through Luca Langoni. Costly summer transfer Porter was sent free down the left by Will Sands, with Langoni breaking away from a stumbling Kessler to go one-on-one through on goal.

The 22-year-old Argentine cut right at St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki and fired a low shot under the charging keeper to score in his Gillette debut and tie things up.

It was then the captain’s turn to give the Revolution the lead with his sixth goal of the campaign.

Just a minute after Dylan Borrero hit the right post with an attempt, Carles Gil collected a pass from Sands above the box, took a tentative step to free up space and then slyly pushed a low ball along the turf that wrong-footed Bürki and slid inside the far left post to give the hosts a 2-1 lead in the 40th minute.

It was Sands’ second assist of the night in his third appearance – all as a starter – since joining from Columbus Crew, while Ian Harkes grabbed a second assist for his fourth assist of the campaign.

New England started the second half looking to extend its lead to two points, but St. Louis began to put the pressure on Ivacic in the 58th minute, when he dove to his right to block an attempt by Hartel.

Ivacic made two more saves before the visitors equalized in the 73rd minute. In the pouring rain, St. Louis dispossessed Harkes on its side of midfield and then attacked down the left wing through Joao Klauss.

Klauss fed Hartel down the left side, but his cross, almost at the goal line, was deflected off the heel of a Revolution player in the penalty area. Klauss made a clever feint, letting the ball roll back to Becher, who fired a low right-footed shot into the bottom right corner to beat Ivacic for his third goal in his fourth game for St. Louis.

Porter, looking for a much-needed 3-pointer, brought on Bobby Wood and Emmanuel Boateng in a double exchange in the 84th minute. But it was St. Louis that had the best chances late in the game, with Harkes and young guard Peyton Miller making key counters in extra time.

“I told them they were great today,” Porter said of his team. “I told them we’re going to win a lot of games playing this way with the group we have. You can see we’re explosive, we’re dangerous and we’re only going to get better.”

The Revolution will travel to Orlando City SC next Saturday to face a Lions team 10 points higher in the standings.