BSJ Match Report: Revs 1, Atlanta United 1 -- Turner's heroics set up late drama

FOXBOROUGH — All you need to know about the Revs’ 1-1 draw with Atlanta United FC Wednesday night, complete with BSJ quickie insight and analysis.

HEADLINES

Late penalty goes New England’s way: The third (and even more than that) time is the charm. With penalty seeker Krisztian Nemeth on the field for the last half hour, the Hungarian managed to draw a foul inside the penalty area and went down, with referee Silviu Petrescu wasting hardly any time in pointing to the spot in the 86^th minute. Two minutes and some protesting by Atlanta United keeper Brad Guzan later, Teal Bunbury calmly buried the penalty to record his seventh goal in the last 10 Revolution matches, and to give New England a late point.

https://twitter.com/NERevolution/status/1001999030451429376

Turner comes up huge: There’s been loads written about Revs goalkeeper Matt Turner in these first three months, so here’s a little more prose to fill the history books: The New Jersey native made six stops Wednesday, five of which came in the second half and several at point-blank range, where any one of those would have killed the match off. It certainly made up for Atlanta’s opener, which he took on his shoulders.

Atlanta’s Martinez adds to his goal total: Five Stripes poacher Josef Martinez scored his ninth of the season in the 23^rd minute. Atlanta United had some nifty build-up, including a cross by Providence College product Julian Gressel to Martinez. The Venezuelan moved off his mark by Antonio Delamea unabated into space, and he side-footed it past Turner.

Chris Tierney goes down: It’s not looking good for the Wellesley native, who landed awkwardly late in the first half after what looked like a collision with Ezequiel Barco. Revs manager Brad Friedel was hesitant to give an update post-match: “It doesn’t look great at this moment in time. We haven’t had the MRI, so let’s wait until (Thursday) until we release a statement,” he said. Gabriel Somi replaced him for the final 45 minutes-plus.

TWO UP

Teal Bunbury: We were moments away from marking the Revs striker down. Seriously, we were. Bunbury did not have a good first half, as he had difficulty timing his runs (he was offside three times in five minutes) and handed a rather poor foul in the latter stages of the first 45 minutes. And he had difficulty finding the ball when the Revs had it in the second half. But with the match on the line and with Guzan rather flustered by Petrescu’s decision, TB10 ran hard and drove the football toward the Upper 90 to salvage a much-needed point at home. That was also Bunbury’s 14^th goal since July 5, ’17.

Matt Turner: The man’s legendary status here on Route 1 continues to grow with his performance Wednesday night. Turner came up with critical saves in the second half, thwarting both Barco and Miguel Almiron on chances that would have put the game away and sent Atlanta home with another three points in the Eastern Conference title chase. He was slightly out of position on Martinez’s goal, but his second half totally made up for that error.

ONE DOWN

Antonio Delamea: The Slovenian didn’t carry his mark of Martinez on the goal, and he had a costly giveaway near the hour mark which nearly led to Atlanta United’s second. He did, however, have a 63rd-minute sliding tackle as AUFC drove close, knocking it over the crossbar for a corner.

TWO TAKES SWEENS MAY LATER REGRET

Turner deserves more respect: A few weeks ago, several MLS big-shot pundits put together a mythical 23-man US national team squads to head to Russia for the World Cup, and none of them — absolutely none of them — put Matt Turner on the fake plane. How many of the goals New England has allowed this season outside of Atlanta’s goal Wednesday were the fault of Turner? I’ll answer that question: Not a single one. They put Brad Guzan on because he was obviously the heir apparent to Tim Howard, and Bono from Toronto. You mean to tell me there are other young American-born goalkeepers doing a better job than Matt Turner right now? Please. There is a harsh anti-Revolution bias in the national media, but someone seriously needs to wake the hell up and give Turner his due.

Time for reinforcements: If Tierney's out for a long period of time — and remember, we’re talking about a 32-year-old man here — then the pressure will be on for the Revolution to secure a left back in the transfer window some six weeks from now. Somi definitely is not the answer; Brandon Bye could conceivably fill in, but he's stronger on the right.

UP NEXT

The Revolution have another short turnaround as they now prep to host the New York Red Bulls this Saturday, June 2, at 7:30 p.m.