Union give up late goal in 1-1 tie with lowly Toronto FC

The Union should not have labored as hard as they did against a Toronto FC team that came to Subaru Park not only near the bottom of the standings, but playing a backup goalkeeper.

Alas, the only goal they could muster came from Indiana Vassilev in the fourth minute, and that wasn’t nearly enough. Deandre Kerr’s 91st-minute equalizer let the Reds walk out with a 1-1 tie, and opened the door for Cincinnati to take first place in the East on Sunday.

With two physical games coming this week against the New York Red Bulls — Wednesday at home in the U.S. Open Cup and Saturday in north Jersey — Union manager Bradley Carnell made two lineup rotations. Jesús Bueno started in midfield for Jovan Lukić, and Nathan Harriel started at right back for Frankie Westfield.

Carnell had further liberty to tweak things because Toronto’s stalwart starting goalkeeper, Sean Johnson, was out after suffering a concussion in practice a few days ago. The backup who stepped in, Luka Gavran, had made just one first-team start this year before Saturday, and it was in the Canadian Championship cup tournament.

Prior to that, Gavran hadn’t taken the field for the Reds’ first team since a cup game in July of last year, and his last league game was in June of last year. He had played 18 top-level games for Toronto (5-14-6, 21 points) coming into Saturday, and allowed 35 goals.

It took under four minutes here to give up the 36th. A break up the field saw Tai Baribo give the decisive pass to Vassilev, who took the ball a bit awkwardly but recovered his stride in time to calmly slot to the far post. Just 15 seconds elapsed in a seven-pass sequence that saw seven Union players touch the ball.

Jakob Glesnes drew a yellow card for a foul off the ball in the 28th minute, and the video review officials halted play to see if it was worth a red. They quickly decided it wasn’t, but the yellow was still enough to earn Glesnes a suspension from Saturday’s game for card accumulation. (Tallies are kept separately for the Open Cup.)

That was mostly it for the entertainment in the first half. Fans weren’t happy with some of referee Tori Penso’s calls, but both teams drew her ire and she wasn’t having it from anyone.

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More important, the Union (15-5-6, 51 points) held just a 3-2 edge in shots at intermission.

The second half started in livelier fashion, and Baribo put the ball in the net in the 56th off a scrappy free kick play. But the goal was rightly disallowed on review because Baribo was offside when the free kick was taken.

Carnell made his first substitutions in the 67th minute, swapping both strikers: Baribo and Bruno Damiani exited, and Mikael Uhre and new signing Milan Iloski entered.

In the 78th, a brawl erupted along the end line after Olwethu Makhanya was whistled for a handball receiving a corner kick, kept playing past the whistle, and kicked the ball into Gavran’s chest. Whether or not he meant to cause harm, it was one of those you-can’t-do-that situations.

Makhanya and Toronto’s Kerr, who shoved Makhanya in the fracas, were given yellow cards. A video review for any potential red cards ensued, and during it Bueno exited for Lukić. Ultimately, no reds were given.

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Alejandro Bedoya and Cavan Sullivan were the last subs to enter, replacing Vassilev and Quinn Sullivan in the 88th.

Penso tacked 10 minutes of stoppage time on for the brawl and all the fouls, and Kerr equalized in the first of them. Malik Sealy was wide open when he swung in a forceful cross, and Kerr waltzed past Glesnes for a close-range finish.

The Union didn’t muster a single shot after that.