Less than a week after a five-goal outburst against the league champions, the high-scoring New England Revolution were stymied by struggling D.C. United in a 0-0 draw at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.
Nonetheless, the result extended the Revs' league unbeaten run to five games, while DC saw their club-record winless run reach 12 matches.
Both teams struggled to produce chances for most of the encounter although Diego Fagundez, who had scored in four straight entering Saturday's game, forced DC goalkeeper Bill Hamid into a couple of decent saves. New England's Chris Tierney also hit the post with a right-footed effort as the Revs attempted to grab the full complement of points.
READ: Spotlight on Bill Hamid
United midfielder Perry Kitchen spurned a late opportunity to end his side's record winless stretch, but the visitors instead settled for a second road draw of the season against the in-form Revolution, who remained in sixth place in the East, 14 points ahead of United at the bottom.
Neither side quite found its footing in a first half that yielded few chances. United enjoyed more of the possession in the opening stanza, but the Revs produced the best opportunities to open the scoring before the interval.
Most of those efforts stemmed from decent interplay inside the final third and a willingness to shoot from distance. Scott Caldwell, Lee Nguyen and Saër Sène both fired on the United goal from outside the penalty area inside the first half-hour as the home side struggled to carve out chances against the revamped United rearguard.
Juan Agudelo prompted the most promising attempt just after 31 minutes. His hold-up play allowed him to navigate from the left side of the penalty area toward the penalty spot. He eventually teed up teammate Juan Toja for a first-time effort ultimately pushed over the bar by Hamid.
Hamid's intervention – and perhaps a low drive past the far post by DC's Nick DeLeon inside the first 10 minutes – marked the high points of the half for the visitors as they settled for level terms at the break.
United cobbled together a decent spell to start the second half, but the Revolution gradually assumed control over the affair and probed for the opening goal.
But Hamid was up to the task again in the 66th minute, tipping a Fagundez blast over the bar.
Then Tierney nearly broke the deadlock a minute later. The defender collected a short corner and cut back onto his right foot, driving a low effort toward goal, but his shot bounced off the near post and caromed to safety.
United inserted ex-Rev Sainey Nyassi and former league MVP Dwayne De Rosario in the final 20 minutes in a bid to snatch a first road victory of the season, but Hamid once again proved more influential as he pushed aside another Fagundez effort to ensure a second away point of the campaign.
For Hamid's counterpart, Bobby Shuttleworth, it was his fourth straight clean sheet, extending his shutout streak to 395 minutes.
United hosts the Union this Wednesday at Maryland SoccerPlex in US Open Cup play, then returns to RFK on Saturday to host Toronto FC. Purchase tickets now.
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Lineups and boxscore (MLSsoccer.com)
Opta Chalkboard (MLSsoccer.com)
