The Union gave up a 3-1 lead and settled for a 3-3 draw with the Colorado Rapids last night at PPL Park.
Despite being in what looked to be cruise control, up 3-1 in the 74th minute thanks to Andrew Wenger’s goal, the Union conceded two goals in the final 11 minutes, hampered by Michael Lahoud’s 76th-minute red card.
Making matters worse for the Union (4-8-7, 19 points), who must quickly dispense of the disappointment ahead of a Wednesday visit by New York, is the fact that they’ll be down another man after Amobi Okugo was shown a red card on the field after the game by referee Sorin Stoica for apparent dissent.
“No explanation,” Okugo said afterward. “He gave me a card when my back was turned. Kind of cowardly, but whatever.”
“The refs were obviously upset, and people were commenting on different things to them,” Union manager Jim Curtin said. “I think one of them, it got relayed that Amobi maybe said something that wasn’t said. At the end of the day, it’s not going to do any good complaining to those guys at the end of the game. Probably a waste of breath, so it’s probably going to cost us losing Amobi, so not smart on his part at all.”
Tempers flared early, starting with Shane O’Neill’s yellow card in the 12th minute for a studs-up tackle on Danny Cruz that should’ve drawn red. By the time Lahoud got a dangerously high boot into the face of Colorado midfielder Jared Watts near the edge of the six-yard box, they were at a boiling point.
That disruption in composure — after Dillon Powers stepped to the spot and buried a penalty kick to make it 3-2 in the 79th minute — threatened to destabilize the Union. The payoff came seven minutes later when Deshorn Brown, a former member of the Union’s developmental partner Reading United, fielded a long pass from Gabriel Torres with a sublime first touch, turned delicately and buried one past Zac MacMath to make it 3-3 and see the Union again denied a second home win of the season.
“In my mind, that’s a loss,” central defender Sheanon Williams said. “We’re up 3-1 late in the game, there’s no reason to give up two goals.”
