Atlanta United 2 fell 5-1 to New England Revolution II Sunday night at Gillette Stadium. Jackson Conway netted his fourth goal of the season through Luke Brennan with his fourth assist, while Matías Gallardo made his team debut.
New England opened the scoring in the eighth minute after regaining possession in the attacking third. Esmir Bajraktarevic dribbled above the 18-yard-box before cutting it back to Tomás Chancalay for the dummy pass that rolled to Damián Rivera. The forward took a few dribbles into the box before striking a left-footed shot towards the far post and into the net.
Atlanta answered back in the 19th minute through Conway. Toni Tiente started the counter by quickly finding Brennan on a long ball up the center of the pitch. With his back turned to goal, Brennan controlled the ball and quickly turned up field with a two-on-one alongside Conway up the left wing. Brennan cut back the pass for Conway who tucked in the goal into the bottom right corner for the equalizer.
After the equalizer, both teams featured a couple of chances to break the tie. Justin Garces came up with two big saves on shots from Rivera in the 33rd and Tommy McNamara 34th. On the other end, Nick Firmino nearly netted his 14th goal of the season on a right-footed shot from outside the box that was blocked in the 35th. Just before half, Efraín Morales came up with a critical block inside the six-yard-box on a pass cut back by Rivera to Malcolm Fry for the first timed strike.
New England began the second half on the front foot and Jordan Adebayo-Smith found the breakthrough after an errant pass left him alone racing towards goal. Garces came up with the initial save, but the rebound dropped to the New England forward for the easy header into the net.
In the 80th minute, Bajraktarevic netted a right footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner for the 3-1 lead. New England added its fourth goal of the night in the 90th minute after Ítalo cut back a pass from the left wing to the center of the box for Adebayo-Smith. New England tacked on its fifth goal on a corner sent in by Patrick Leal that bounced around in front of goal before eventually being kicked in by Noble Okello.
ATL UTD 2 returns to action Monday, Aug. 21 when it travels to MSU Soccer Park to take on New York Red Bulls II (7:00 p.m. ET, Apple TV - MLS Season Pass). Some ATL UTD 2 matches are available with an MLS Season Pass subscription, located on the Apple TV app while the remainder of matches are streamed live on MLSNEXTPro.com.
Match Summary
Stats
Shots: 18-2 New England
Shots on target: 8-0 New England
Corner kicks: 2-2
Fouls Committed: 9-4 Atlanta
xG: 3.88 - .12 New England
Possession: 51-49 New England
Passing accuracy: 87-86 New England
Scoring
NE - Damián Rivera (Bajraktarevic) 8'
ATL - Jackson Conway (Brennan) 19'
NE - Jordan Adebayo-Smith 67'
NE - Esmir Bajraktarevic 80'
NE - Jordan Adebayo-Smith (Ítalo) 90'
NE - Noble Okello (Leal) 90' + 4'
Disciplinary
ATL - Chris Gloster 🟨 40'
NE - Esmir Bajraktarevic 🟨 45'+2'
NE - Jake Rozhansky 🟨 54'
ATL - Karim Tmimi 🟨 70'
NE - Damián Rivera 🟨 88'
ATL - Jackson Conway 🟨 90'
ATL - Cooper Sanchez 🟨 90' + 3'
Notes
- Matías Gallardo makes ATL UTD 2 debut as a 85th minute substitute.
- 15-year-old Atlanta United Academy keeper, Jonathan Ransom, was available for selection into his professional debut.
- Jackson Conway scored fourth goal of the season.
- Luke Brennan added his fourth assist on the year.
