Recap: Brandon Bye's Late Heroics Keep Playoff Hopes Alive

A lackluster match saved by a late second half surge and New England gets their first win since August 24th.

Photo Courtesy of New England Revolution

Brandon Bye’s 86th-minute winner saw the New England Revolution to a 1-0 win over Nashville SC in front of a crowd of over 42,000.

The Revs right back found himself in the box all alone to flick on Luca Langoni’s cross into the far post in a wild finish that saw each team have a goal disallowed in stoppage time.

But in the first half it was mostly Nashville on the front foot, with an early chance by Alex Muyl in the 8th minute saved and then a Sam Surridge chance off a great 1-2 combination with Alex Muyl stonewalled at the near post by Aljaz Ivacic in the 26th.

The Revs best chance in the first half was a curling effort midway though the half by Carles Gil, but his effort from the top of the box was wide.

In the second half, the Revs were much more aggressive and with the addition of substitute winger Esmir Bajraktarevic on the left able to build up pressure in the Nashville half. A plethora of corners however led to not a lot of great chances at goal with the best being a header by Giacomo Vrioni in the 66th that went well over the target.

Bye’s winner however was a result of that uptick in pressure, as the Apple broadcast was bemoaning the lack of urgency from both teams in a 0-0 game with their playoff hopes on the line. A well-taken header off a good ball from Langoni to salvage the Revs hopes on what was a low percentage chance. Bye’s goal was New England’s only shot on target on the night as the Revs were only 1 of 7 shooting on the night with Ivacic credited with four saves in the shutout.

Later on in stoppage time, Dave Romney thought he had New England’s second only to see Matt Polster called for an obstruction foul inside the box. Nashville in the dying minute also thought they had snatched a point as Hany Mukhtar slotted home off a rebound only for the flag to go up on Jacob Shaffelburg who was offside in the middle of the box on the first shot.

The win takes the Revs out of the basement in the East to 14th place, now two points behind Nashville in 13th with a game in hand and six points behind 9th place Philadelphia with the Revs having a game in hand.

New England’s next game will be at Houston on Wednesday October 2 before returning to Gillette for their final regular season home game to play DC United on Saturday October 5.