But the Reds’ head coach knew all too well what was unfolding late in Saturday’s match.
“You could all see it,” Mariner said after his side squandered a two-goal lead as the New England Revolution scored four minutes into second-half stoppage time for a 2-2 draw before an an announced crowd of 18,877 at BMO Field. “We just couldn’t hold out.”
It’s the second straight game the Reds (1-10-2) have collapsed in the game’s dying stages and had to settle for a tie. They let a 3-1 lead slip in Houston on Wednesday.
“It’s an understatement to say we’re all disappointed,” said Mariner, cruelly denied his first win as TFC head coach again. “Thirty seconds and we would have had a W.”
Once again, the equalizer came off a ball whipped into the box from the wing. That’s the way five of the seven goals TFC has conceded under Mariner have been scored.
The Reds are 0-1-2 since he took over from Aron Winter on June 7.
“It’s just a catalogue of learning on the job,” Mariner said in reference to starting defenders Doneil Henry, 19, Ashtone Morgan, 21, Richard Eckersley, 23, and Jeremy Hall, 24. “It’s just a fact that we’ve got a very very young back four.”
The night started so brightly. Danny Koevermans scored his club-leading sixth goal of the season, and fifth in five games, just four minutes in on a great header.
Just before halftime, Ryan Johnson scored his first goal in Major League Soccer play since the season opener, on a diving header in the 42nd minute.
Both goals were set up by Morgan off crosses following superb runs down the left wing.
Blake Brettschneider got one back for the Revolution (5-7-3), banging in a rebound off a diving save by goalkeeper Milos Kocic in the 71st minute to give the visitors hope.
And they continued to push, putting the Reds back on their heels over the final 20 minutes. Kocic was forced to make three good saves and was helped by a post before Chris Tierney headed home a cross from Flo Lechner in the 94th minute to tie it.
“I’m trying my best to come out for every cross I can but I’m not a superman,” said a clearly frustrated Kocic. “We have to be responsible for the runners in the box.
“I told them that before we started and it’s coming back at us over and over again. I hope they learn one day.”
Eckersley said one of the problems is to be defending for the last half-hour of the match.
“We’ve got to learn to keep the ball better rather than just giving the possession back to them,” he said. “It starts with all of us. If we keep doing it the way we’re playing then we’re not going to win games, they’re always going to score goals.”
Koevermans said despite the devastating finish, New England was full value for a point.
“I think they outplayed us and I think they played better soccer than us today,” he said. “To be honest, they deserved the draw but then you hope for once this season . . . that we would be lucky. When they hit the post (in the 88th minute) I was like, ‘OK, this could be our first win to be a little bit lucky,’ but then 20 seconds, one good cross and it still went in.”
Midfielder Eric Avila said the team has “to be more mature and learn how to close.”
“Everyone has to stop expecting the other guy to do the job,” he said. “We all have to step up.”
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