NYCFC drop third straight in 3-0 loss at New England
Courtesy: NYCFC
By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC lost their third straight match tonight in a 3-0 defeat at the hands of the New England Revolution. The loss is NYCFC’s sixth in their last seven matches. Former City midfielder Tommy McNamara had a goal and an assist in the win, while Jonathan Bell and Noel Buck also found the back of the net.
“We just have to raise our standard now, because we’ve done an awful lot to win a football game today, but we were just far too easy to score on. When our standard in those moments is low, you give away goals.”
It only took 12 minutes for New England to get their first goal. After the initial corner was broken up, McNamara floated a cross in from near the corner flag that was finished by Bell.
The Revs doubled their lead in the 32nd minute. 17 year old homegrown Buck capitalized when the NYCFC backline backed off, finishing on a powerful shot from 22 yards out. It was Buck’s first career MLS goal, and it put New York City down two goals before the first half was through.
New York City created chances of their own at the other end. In the 53rd minute, Maxi Moralez delivered a dangerous cross to the back right post - only for Andres Jasson’s shot to be saved point-blank by New England keeper Djordje Petrovic. It was one of the seven saves Petrovic made to preserve a clean sheet on the night.
Moralez delivered another dangerous cross in the 62nd minute. This time, it found the feet of Heber, but his shot was also saved by Petrovic.
Tommy McNamara got a goal to go with his assist in the 66th minute, beating Sean Johnson after getting on the end of a squared ball from DeJuan Jones.
While the scoreline was lopsided in favor of New England, NYCFC led several statistical categories. In addition to outshooting the Revolution 17-8, they also held the ball for 64.5 percent of the match, translating to a 1.9 to 0.4 advantage in expected goals.
Despite the loss, New York City are solidly in playoff position, remaining fourth in the Eastern Conference at the end of the weekend. Next on the schedule, NYCFC face a quick turnaround before a return to the five boroughs on Wednesday night against FC Cincinnati.
“Let’s not hide away from the fact that it’s not good enough,” Cushing said. “I believe we have the quality, we have the players returning to give us freshness, and we have home advantage that will give us a real lift in turning the result around [on Wednesday].”