CHESTER — For not the first time this season, the Philadelphia Union were unconvincing Saturday. But they ultimately got the job done, however nervy it was at times.
The Union left it late, needing substitute Milan Iloski to set up Bruno Damiani’s goal in the 71st minute and see off lowly New England, 1-0.
The three points guarantee the Union (18-7-6, 60 points) will finish the week leading the Supporters’ Shield standings with three matches to play. The loss, which is the Revs’ sixth straight to the Union, eliminates them from the playoffs. For a team that fired its head coach Monday and was playing its first game under interim Pablo Moreira, the Revs defended valiantly but lacked much going forward. They weren’t helped by Peyton Miller’s red card in the 75th minute for throwing the ball at Tai Baribo.
Damiani was in the midst of another pedestrian outing before the goal. The Uruguayan club-record signing had just one touch in the box before his goal on the stroke of 70 minutes.
Indiana Vassilev, dropped into a No. 6 role with the Union pushing for a goal and Iloski on, made a run through the center of the field. He played into Damiani, who held it up and fed Frankie Westfield on the right wing. Westfield played the underlapping run of Iloski, who cut a ball back low and hard. Baribo and Damiani made similar runs, but Damiani got to it first, angling it with his left foot for his seventh goal of the campaign.
The Union’s task got a whole lot easier when Miller had a rush of blood to his teenage brain. He barged a shoulder into Quinn Sullivan, then in the ensuring fracas picked up the ball and launched it into the back of Baribo’s head. On a yellow card, the 17-year-old was shown a straight red. (Baribo also got a yellow card, which means he’s suspended next week for accumulation.)
The Union managed to see things out. They still haven’t scored in 137 minutes up a man this season. They somehow did not score when Chris Donovan, on as a sub, mangled a breakaway so badly that he didn’t even get a shot on goal in alone on Matt Turner. Seconds later, Tomas Chancalay had a sharp-angle rip that Andre Blake had to stop, his only save of the game in his return from a month out with a hamstring injury.
The first half was a snoozefest. The Union didn’t get their first shot attempt until the 32nd, when Jakob Glesnes redirect a corner kick several yards wide. They hosts warmed to the challenge eventually and produced the half’s best chance when Westfield bombed in for a back-post header off a corner kick. Turner got his body behind it, Bruno Damiani’s follow-up shot from the top of the box didn’t find its way through traffic.
Vassilev had a go in the 39th from 20 yards that Turner handled easily. Vassilev played in Baribo four minutes later, but the Israeli skied his effort from the right channel.
The Union kept the Revolution off the score sheet, which after allowing 10 goals in the last two games is progress. In particular, they clamped down on the danger produced by Carles Gil, with left back Kai Wagner and Nate Harriel at left center back bracketing him whenever he got near the ball.
The Union could’ve added on in the late stages. Quinn Sullivan lashed a first-time shot in the 85th that his U.S. teammate Turner pawed over, one of his three saves. Glesnes had a rip early in the second half. Iloski had four shots in his 30 minutes on the pitch.
NOTES >> The Union were without both Olwethu Makhanya and Jovan Lukic due to yellow-card accumulation. Makhanya’s ban was his second, having missed last week’s game in Vancouver for a red card against Cincinnati. Jesus Bueno started for Lukic. … Jeremy Rafanello appeared as a second-half sub, providing a vital tackle on Gil at the edge of the box after a Harriel giveaway. The Union are 11-1-2 in MLS games that he has appeared in.
