CHESTER, Pa. – For much of Sunday’s nationally televised Eastern conference showdown with the New England Revolution, things were looking good for the Philadelphia Union.
Then, Teal Bunbury entered the game for the Revs.
Spurred by a goal and an assist from Bunbury, the Revs erased a one-goal halftime deficit to earn a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over the Union at PPL Park.
Charlie Davies also scored -- his first on the season -- for New England (3-2-2), who remained unbeaten in their last five.
Cristian Maidana notched his first goal of the campaign for the Union (1-4-3), who were coming off a win and a tie in back-to-back games over New York City FC in the past week.
The Revs found their equalizer in the 64th minute when a wide-open Davies deposited a cross from Bunbury, who beat Ray Gaddis to set up the goal three minutes after coming in as a second-half sub.
Twelve minutes later, Bunbury gave the Revs their first lead, this time on the receiving end of a great cross. The 25-year-old bagged his first goal of the season on a ball from fellow second-half sub Diego Fagundez.
The game took a frenetic turn from there with New England goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth making a big save on Maurice Edu in the 77th minute and then Lee Nguyen and London Woodberry making terrific goal-line clearances a minute later on shots from Fernando Aristeguieta and Edu.
But those were the last great scoring chances Philly had.
The Union opened the scoring late in the first half after Edu picked off a New England pass, bombed forward down the middle of the field and was taken down by former US national team teammate Jermaine Jones -- who unexpectedly started at center back.
On the ensuing 42nd-minute free kick from about 30 yards out, Maidana’s perfectly placed left-footed bender snuck just inside the post and past the outstretched arm of Shuttleworth.
The goal was the first of the season for Maidana, who was making his first start since March 14th because of a knee injury. It was also the first goal New England allowed in 250 minutes of play.
The Union could have gone into halftime with an even larger lead but Aristeguieta pinged one off the crossbar in the 16th minute and C.J. Sapong lost his balance on a perfect free kick that Sebastien Le Toux put right on his head in the 38th minute. Shuttleworth also did well to punch away danger following a Sheanon Williams long throw-in in the 30th minute.
New England’s only good scoring chance in the first half came in the 28th minute when Woodberry sent a cross into the box right to Davies, who was wide open but put his header well wide.
Following the halftime break, the Union kept their foot on the pedal with Sapong flying in to get his head on a Maidana corner kick in the 57th minute, the attempt going just wide.
Shuttleworth and John McCarthy each made two saves with McCarthy losing his first game since supplanting Rais Mbolhi as the team’s starting goalkeeper.
Both teams return to action Saturday with the Union traveling to Columbus and the Revolution hosting Real Salt Lake.
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
