This column originally ran in The Standard-Times on Sept. 23, 2005.

By Nick Tavares

Well, it's nice to see that someone can hang on to first place when they have to.

After battling to a 1-1 draw with Columbus on Wednesday night on the strength of Taylor Twellman's 16th goal of the season, the Revolution found itself sitting comfortably in first place with 52 points, five more than second place DC United.

So, for the fourth season in a row, the Revs are right in the thick of things in September. This year, however, it should not be any surprise.

Twellman's 16 goals have him on top of MLS this season, and, coupled with fellow forward Pat Noonan's eight goals, New England has one of the top front-line duos in the league.

Where past seasons found the Revs starting off slowly and making a major rush at the end of the season to sneak into the playoffs, where they usually caused more than enough havoc, this edition has easily been the most balanced and dangerous squad to lace up for the red, white and blue.

Unbeaten in their first 12 games, the only thing close to a slump came around the middle of the season. July and August saw the club go 3-5-2, though it spent a good portion of that time without Twellman or last season's rookie of the year, Clint Dempsey, due to injury and national team commitments.

But in the past, it's always been hard to predict how the Revolution would fare once the playoffs started. After squeaking in last season, they upset Columbus in the first round. This season, the wins, losses and draws aren't nearly as random.

The 2005 campaign has been marked by a collective toughness that has persisted all season. The team has practically made scoring after the 75th minute a habit, with Twellman's most recent goal the fourth the team has scored to tie the game that late.

Though there were several chances early on Wednesday to put the game out of reach -- notably Shalrie Joseph's high header from Steve Ralston and Twellman's two misses in the second half -- the team battled Columbus tooth and nail. They left Ohio with a tie, but they weren't pleased.

"We deserved to get something at the end of the game," head coach Steve Nicol said. "There was no way we deserved to lose that game. I don't think we deserved a draw either."

"But there's something that we have inside right now, that we feel confident," defender Jay Heaps said. "We feel like we are going to have opportunities right up to the last second of the game.

"And we have Taylor Twellman."

Twellman, with his late-game antics, should walk away with MVP honors this season, but he wasn't shy to take the blame for watching a win escape.

"We're just not stopping," he said. "I let the team down tonight. I should have had a couple more. It's on me, we should have won."

Yes, they probably should have won. But, even in the draw, they've shown why they may be the gutsiest team New England has fielded since its inception 10 years ago.

With four games left on the schedule, including tomorrow night's match in Foxboro against MetroStars, they'll be looking to prove their point, right up until the playoffs.

That's when their late-game antics should take a national stage.

Nick Tavares is a columnist for The Standard-Times. Contact him at ntavares@s-t.com

This story appeared on Page C1 of The Standard-Times on September 23, 2005.