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Yura Movsisyan didn't hold back much. When the Real Salt Lake striker was asked to assess another late collapse on the road — this time after seeing a 2-0 lead in Portland wilt to a 2-2 draw — Movsisyan said RSL should've polished off Saturday night at Providence Park with a win.
"We lost two points," said Movsisyan, who scored his first goal with RSL since Oct. 24, 2009. "It sucks."
Despite remaining unbeaten in league play at 1-0-2, RSL has seen 2-0 road leads evaporate in its first two road matches of 2016. The troublesome trend showed itself in Week 1 at Orlando City when a 10-man RSL conceded two goals in 65 seconds. The three points within grasp was cut down into one.
Two weeks later against the reigning MLS Cup champion Timbers, another 2-0 lead dissipated, this time in the final 10 minutes of play. The pair of goals from Fanendo Adi in the 79th minute and again in the 84th minute yet again sliced down what would've been three road points to just one. An accompanying trend to the late goals conceded is one that seems to be seeping into this campaign from the one a year ago:
Ejections.
Red cards to captain Kyle Beckerman in the 31st minute and later center back Jamison Olave in the 83rd thinned RSL down to nine men — for the third time since last April. Through the club's last 31 league outings, RSL has been issued 11 red cards. Olave's ejection Saturday made him the sole owner of what is a somewhat dubious honor. The 34-year-old center back now has the most red cards in league history with 10.
Such game-changing decisions by players continue to hamper the strides RSL has made early on this season. Against Orlando City on March 6 and Portland Saturday night, RSL tacked onto an already-established lead being down a man.
"Considering [the two red cards], I'm happy with the point," RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando said. "Happy to see the guys fight and give it their all in front of me. It's a little disappointing not to get three points when you're up 2-0, but [the Timbers] brought a lot."
RSL coach Jeff Cassar said afterward he isn't concerned with the continued rise of red cards.
"Obviously, continuing moving forward we got to make sure we work on our discipline and try to keep 11 players on the field," he said, "but a point here at Providence Park is a good thing."
The glass-half-full side of this provides RSL with two points on the road while it's attack continues to pester opposing back lines. As for the glass-half-empty part? Four road goals conceded in the last 10 minutes, negating what would've been back-to-back road victories.
"It's a young season and we can't be patting ourselves on the back right now," Rimando said. "We haven't done anything but it is good to get two results on the road to start the season."
Movsisyan, who left the match in the 65th minute with groin injury, said RSL needs to recover, return to training and weed out the game-altering decisions that is obstructing what otherwise would be a perfect 3-0-0 start to the season.
"Anxiously waiting for the next game," he said.
Twitter: @chriskamrani