A point on the road always is a good thing

The first installment of the Union’s third shot at an MLS season started with a job done Thursday, if not all that impressively so.

The Union ground out a 0-0 draw in New England in the first game of the rest of the MLS regular season, extending its regular-season unbeaten streak to five games (2-0-3).

The sedate affair didn’t have more than a smattering of chances either way, but that was fine for the Union (2-1-3, 9 points) and their increasingly steady defense. In their first scoreless draw in more than a year (May 19, 2019 against Seattle), the Union kept a third clean sheet in nine outings in all competitions this season. They managed just five shutouts in 36 games last year, defensive shortcomings the clear Achilles heel in an otherwise stellar 2019.

“A point on the road is always a good thing, but we know we didn’t play our best tonight,” manager Jim Curtin said. “We needed guys to step up due to injury. We needed to use our bench a little more than we usually do. And I think our guys did put a lot of effort and fight in for the fight that we got.”

This time, Andre Blake wasn’t required to be spectacular as he was for much of the MLS Is Back tournament on the way to the Golden Gloves Award. He made just one save, albeit a stellar one in the ninth minute on Gustavo

Bou. The Revs hit the post four minutes later via Adam Buksa, getting the better of play early, but more often than not, their chances were snuffed out before they materialized.

Mark McKenzie and Jack Elliott were excellent in the center, doing so despite being saddled by yellow cards in the 50th and 53rd minutes, respectively. Matt Real stepped in for Kai Wagner, who missed out with a leg contusion. Wagner suffered a training knock in a tackle with Alejandro Bedoya last week; an x-ray on the leg that he fractured in the preseason came back negative, but an MRI showed damage near the old injury site, though Curtin doesn’t believe it will be a long-term issue.