Revs lay an egg in home finale

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FOXBORO -- The New England Revolution sent their fans home with a goose egg on Saturday night. Their 3-0 loss to the Columbus Crew marked the Revolution's last game of the season at Gillette Stadium.

They'll finish the year with a match in Toronto next Saturday night, but it won't mean much.

The Revs look ready to shut it down and couldn't have been more evident than it was in their fifth straight loss on Saturday, in which the same problems that have haunted Steve Nicol's club all year, came back to bite them once again.

"At least in previous occasions, weve made some chances and played some decent stuff," said Nicol after the game. "But it wasnt good tonight."

"Tonight was disappointing," said Revolution defender Chris Tierney. "Once again, we were not good enough on either side of the ball. Made some poor mistakes, didnt capitalize on the few chances we created to start the game. It was basically downhill from there. There werent many positives to take."

Columbus' Andres Mendoza scored two goals, and Dilly Duka added the other.

But nobody was putting any blame on New England goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.

"Shuttleworth didnt have any chance with the goals," said Nicol. "He was solid in everything he was asked to do. He did well. He came and got some balls, made some saves, sweeped up behind the back four. So obviously he was a positive.

"One thing were always trying to work on is whats going on behind us going forward," added Nicol about his team's defense. "Its important you fill the holes in behind any time youre attacking the opposition. You have to fill the holes in so that when you do cough it up, you can keep it tight. Weve havent done itwe havent done it well all season. We cant just turn around and say tonight is when we had a problem with it. We havent done it well all season."

The Revolution front office will have many decisions to make this offseason, which officially begins one week from tomorrow, thanks to the team's second straight year without earning a playoff appearance.

So the next time Revolution fans see their team in person, things may look different.

"I have no idea if Ill be here next year," said Nicol. "Its disappointing. We at least wanted to give the fans something to cheer about. Its been a tough one for them, as well. We appreciate them coming every home game to watch us and support us, which they have done fantastically all season. So its disappointing we couldnt finish up by giving them something to go home with a smile on their face."

"I think we need some time to recharge the batteries during the offseason, obviously," said Tierney. "I think we are looking forward to having some time off and being able to look at the things we need to improve on and hopefully get to work."

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