Kansas City, KS (SportsNetwork.com) - The New England Revolution will aim to keep their blazing run of form going on Wednesday when the club travels to Sporting Park to face Sporting Kansas City.
The Revolution come into the contest as one of the hottest teams in the league, riding a nine-game unbeaten streak all the way up to second place in the Eastern Conference with 19 points. Jay Heaps' squad has an opportunity to jump into first place, ahead of D.C. United with a win over Kansas City.
Last time out, the Revolution battled hard to earn a point in a 1-1 draw with Toronto FC at Gillette Stadium.
Both teams had good chances in the opening 10 minutes as Jose Goncalves volleyed a ball off the post for the Revs, while TFC's Sebastian Giovinco created space and drove a low shot off the upright himself.
TFC goalkeeper Chris Konopka made a big stop on Charlie Davies in the 25th minute, but he couldn't prevent Juan Agudelo from opening the scoring as he got on the other end of a cross from London Woodberry to apply the finishing touch.
But U.S. national team midfielder Michael Bradley pulled the visitors level with a great individual effort as he completed a long solo run by driving his shot inside the far post.
New England had one final opportunity to snatch all three points in the 86th when Lee Nguyen sent a shot whistling inches past the post.
"Obviously, disappointed with the final result. We thought we had enough there and we did enough to get through but, you credit a good team," said Heaps. "The keeper made some great saves and I thought we could've done a little bit better to get a goal before half and then there���s about ten minutes there we were not good enough to start the second half. But, after that I thought we reassumed control and had chances to win."
"I mean Charlie (Davies) and Juan (Agudelo) both made good runs, it was just the type of play where I had a lot of space, got to pick my head up and got to serve in a good ball with a lot of time on my hands so kudos to Juan for getting his head on the end of it and notch another assist," added Woodberry on his assist.
Sporting, meanwhile, comes into the fixture on extra rest after having their match against Colorado Rapids last Saturday postponed due to heavy rain and lightning.
The last time Sporting was on the field, the club extended its unbeaten streak to a modest three games with a 1-1 draw against D.C. United at RFK Stadium on May 9.
Sporting fell behind in the 42nd minute as Perry Kitchen got the scoring play started when he sprayed the ball wide to the left for Chris Pontius.
Pontius got to the end line and cut it back to Jairo Arrieta, who smashed it past Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia to give the hosts the advantage.
But the lead lasted only three minutes as Roger Espinoza sent a low cross into the penalty area that left Dominic Dwyer with plenty of work to finish the play. But he did well to reach back for the ball and get plenty of power on his strike as he ripped it past United goalkeeper Bill Hamid.
"We gave them a chance to try to build the game a little bit, and I think they found that really difficult," SKC head coach Peter Vermes said. "I thought our team did a really good job. They really didn't break us down through the buildup. They got very frustrated and just banged balls forward, which those balls are more ours than theirs, especially when their forward had his back to the goal and we were able to see the field in front of us."
This will be the first meeting of the season between the former Eastern Conference rivals. New England won all three matches between the sides last season by a combined score of 8-3.
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