10-man Metro wins in Foxboro on absurd own goal
April 2, 2022
Metro was trying just to hold on. Down a man since the 73rd minute, they fought off onslaught after onslaught. Could they salvage a point in their usual house of horrors? And then, out of nowhere... a ridiculous own goal in the 90th minute, and a 1:0 win over New England. There have been some absurd results over the years, but this one is up there.
Gerhard Struber reverted to a two-striker lineup, meaning "Big, Strong, Fast" Tom Barlow started and Dylan Nealis sat. Play in the first half was mostly even, without any major chances for either side.
Metro started to pick it up in the second. Off a deflection in the box, Lewis Morgan found himself starting at an empty net off an acute angle, but decided to center the ball instead of shooting. Then, a rather obvious handball in the box was rejected by the referee. Soon after, Patryk Klimala found himself unmarked in the middle of the penalty area, but obviously missed the net.
And then, the red card came. Now, Frankie Amaya has to partially blame himself for it. His first yellow, in the first half, came for kicking the ball when the play was whistled dead. But the second one was probably not even a foul: a clean tackle to win the ball in midfield that saw the Rev player tumble to the ground. Referee Victor Rivas thought otherwise and gave Amaya his second caution.
From that point on, it was all New England. Metro put everyone behind the ball and just tried to hold on. A fantastic point-blank save by Carlos Coronel kept the game scoreless, and then, in the 90th, Metro finally got the ball upfield.
The ball was with Ashley Fletcher, whose first sub appearance led to an idiotic attempt to score in injury time, which ended up costing Metro the win. This time, the Englishman crossed the ball into the box from the endline. There was only one Metro player in the area, and three Revs, all closer to the ball. It should have been an easy clear. Instead, Andrew Farrell hit it off teammate Matt Polster and it into his own net.
Metro held on the rest of the way, but not before New England's Adam Buksa got two yellows in injury time for two thuggish fouls. Deserved or not, lucky or not, this was an amazing victory. Let's just hope that we don't need to rely on own goals for the rest of the season.
Lineup: Coronel, Tolkin, Long, Nealis, Edwards, Morgan, Amaya, Yearwood, Fernandez, Barlow, Klimala. Subs: Casseres, Luquinhas, Fletcher, Nealis.
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