Match Recap

Mark Booth

New England Revolution Goals:
NYCFC Goals:

Quick Read

New York City FC brought up six matches unbeaten and took a fourth point from six available in Foxborough after being held to a goalless draw by the New England Revolution.

In a tough back and forth game, City had their chances to earn all three points but had to be content with a share of the spoils in the first match of Phase 2 in the MLS restart.

Kicking off Phase 2 with the first of three games in a week, Head Coach Ronny Deila made four changes to the XI which began the 2-1 win over FC Cincinnati last weekend.

There were first starts for both Joe Scally and Nicolas Acevedo, with the former becoming the youngest-ever starter for NYCFC at 17 years, 8 months and 20 days.

Elsewhere, Gary Mackay-Steven and Alexandru Mitriță came in for Maxi Moralez and Jesus Medina on the wings, with Alex Ring moving into the no.10 role behind Héber.

In a scoreless first half, New England had the ball in the back of the NYCFC net on three occasions with each being brought back for offside calls - however, that didn't tell the story of the first 45', with both sides testing one another equally in an attritional half of play.

City had their share of chances, with a flurry falling for Héber, Mackay-Steven and Ring around the 35' mark, but all were unable to beat goalkeeper Matt Turner despite their best efforts.

After the interval, Taty Castellanos and Anton Tinnerholm were introduced from the bench and it was in-form Swede Tinnerholm who was influential in creating the first big chance of the second 45' which fell for Mitriță, but an excellent last-ditch block deflected the strike just over the crossbar.

Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, a scorer at the Gillette Stadium in the past, was next off the bench, replacing Acevedo as Deila went all out for the three points with 15' to go, but it was Mitri who had the best remaining chance of the 90' with a free-kick saved by Turner in stoppage-time.