A video clip from Twitter analogously depicts the final moments of Saturday night's 2-2 draw.

While the fans were dropping beers in the stands, the Philadelphia Union were dropping points on the field.

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It's a frustrating finish for a team that did well to correct a slow start and take the lead after giving up an incredibly soft first-half goal. The Union were just three minutes away from claiming only their second road win of 2016, while also completing the season sweep of D.C. United.

Three points would have gone a long way for a team that had suffered two straight losses and now hovers dangerously close to the playoff line. Are two points going to be the difference between making the playoffs or missing out?

You never know.

Now sitting at 31 points with a record of eight wins, eight losses, and seven draws, the table shows that the Philadelphia Union are a .500 team.

Why the late collapse?

The Union have put a strong emphasis on sports science this season as they work through a new training regimen under Earnie Stewart. The club has double training sessions several times per week. The fitness standard has certainly improved. Even in short turnaround situations, the idea of "squad rotation" has been mostly shunned while the club still pulls off decent results (think about the 1-1 draw in Colorado and the 1-1 draw in Montreal).

That considered, it's a bit of a head-scratcher when you realize that the Union have given up 10 goals in the 80th minute of play or beyond. Of the 37 goals the team has conceded this season, 27 percent have come during that late-game interval.

If we want to narrow down that statistic and eliminate some "asterisks", we can remove the two late goals that Montreal scored in the 5 to 1 loss a few weeks back. That game was lost, right? Let's not put too much weight on that.

Taking eight goals then, and re-doing the math, gives us a 22% number for goals conceded after the 80th minute. That's still alarming.

Philadelphia now has the third-worst goals against average in the Eastern Conference.

One of the issues from Saturday night is that Philly ended up with an attack-minded front four on the field in the dying moments of the game. In the late stages, C.J. Sapong was on the left, Ilsinho was playing at the 10, Walter Restrepo was on the right, and Charlie Davies was on his Union debut at center forward. That grouping can get you a goal, but can they defend?

Ilsinho looked gassed. Sapong looked tired. Restrepo had two chances to bag or create a third goal. Davies was mostly stranded up top and marginalized. But on the sequence leading to the goal, the former D.C. forward actually does a nice job to win the ball in the corner and outlet to Richie Marquez. 

You see all ten men are defending on the play, so there's no faulting any player for being lazy here. Does Ilsinho jog to the ball after Marquez's botched clearance? Yes, he does, but I'm not sure he would have gotten there. This is the 94th minute, and he was the one who created the second Union goal with a smart press and steal, so I'm not going to criticize the guy for this passage. It was his defensive mettle that gave the team the lead in the first place.

I think you're just looking at a tired team that got a clearance wrong. There was also a bit of ball watching and failure to reset and find marks. Give credit to Patrick Nyarko for hitting a great ball to the back post.

We can sit here and criticize Curtin's subs, but hindsight commentary is cheap. The Creavalle switch was necessary due to a first-half injury. I thought Restrepo added some pace on the right side. Davies came into a lopsided game with the opponent pushing for a late equalizer. Could Josh Yaro or Ray Gaddis have helped close out the game? Maybe, but then you're just shoving another defender on the field and sitting behind the ball. Roland Alberg certainly wouldn't have added much in this scenario.

These situations are about digging deep and gutting it out until the final whistle. This time, they came up short.

Herbers at the 10

With Alejandro Bedoya not in the 18, the most intriguing tactical storyline for me was Curtin's decision to sit Alberg and play Fabian Herbers at the 10.

Herbers has made a couple of substitute appearances in this role. He scored the late equalizer in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal while playing in this position. Saturday, however, was his first start at the CAM.

Here's his chart after a 70 minute shift.

Statistically, there's not a ton going on here.

Herbers finished with one off-target shot, one clearance, two recoveries, three fouls, and one dispossession. He was 16 for 21 in passing and hit one wayward cross towards the far post. Only seven of his passing attempts went forward. The rest were shuttled sideways or backwards.

The big takeaway was the scoring chance he had in the first half, when he made a really nice late run into the box, only to catch the ball low and rocket one into the stands. That was the passage of play where Tranquillo Barnetta got in behind and rolled the ball back. It almost seemed as if Barnetta might take the shot himself, and Herbers didn't time the run the way he wanted.

He also had a nice sequence that could have netted him a secondary assist. That was the play where the Union countered with a 3v4 and Barnetta made a nifty overlapping run, only for C.J. Sapong to get his shot stuffed at point blank range. Herbers swung at the rebound but couldn't get anything on it.

I certainly don't think Herbers is true number 10, especially with Barnetta, Bedoya, and Alberg on the roster. But he does seem to have a knack for that late run and he'll identify gaps between the lines. I'd really like to see the rookie in a 4-4-2 because I don't think this current shape lets him play in his best position.

Grades:

Starting XI: Blake; Fabinho, Marquez, Tribbett, Rosenberry; Carroll, Barnetta; Ilsinho, Herbers, Pontius; Sapong

C.J. Sapong: C+

He didn't “manhandle” D.C. this time around, but he had some nice moments in the right channel, where his hold-up play lead to a couple of half-chances. He was unlucky not to score on that 3v4 situation about midway through the game.

Ilsinho: B

A slow start with a shanked cross and two turnovers.

He takes a little while to start, but he begins to impact the game more and more as time goes on. In this one, it was his defensive play that put Philly ahead.

Maybe you take him off the field around the 70th minute. I felt like he was running on fumes when Philly was holding on for dear life in the final moments of the game.

Fabian Herbers: C

He's feeling out the #10 spot. He had two bright spots and seemed to adjust a bit better in the second half.

Chris Pontius: B

You forget he's on the field, then he pops up with a go-ahead goal.

Tranquillo Barnetta: B+

A little bit of everything from Barnetta in this game.

Early on he had that layoff attempt for Herbers, then made a really nice recovery run to prevent a breakaway on a Tribbett turnover.

He gets the goal on an excellent free kick, but I will say that Bill Hamid was caught cheating and won't give up that type of goal again. Still, Barnetta gets props for picking out his spot and putting a lot of pace on the strike.

Again, I feel like Barnetta wastes too much time yelling at the refs. You see what he's capable of when he's focused on the game and not distracted by the officiating.

Brian Carroll: C+

Carroll, who rarely comes off the field with injuries, was forced out just before halftime.

Fabinho: B

A few iffy moments, which is par for the course. Otherwise not much to report.

Richie Marquez: B-

He was lucky not to be sent off in the early moments of the game. That was a studs-to-ankle tackle that other referees have shown red cards for.

Marquez certainly wasn't culpable on the first goal. Maybe he could have closed down the space on Taylor Kemp, but he's sliding to cover after his center back partner is beat.

Later, there was a really hairy moment with a turnover and crunching tackle on Luciano Acosta, but he appeared to time it perfectly and snuffed out a dangerous moment.

He'll certainly want another crack at that clearance that he mishit leading up to the late equalizer.

Ken Tribbett: C-

The turnover and defending on the first goal was nothing short of horrendous. It seems like Tribbett is good for at least one awful turnover per game.

He had a good scoring chance about 15 minutes later, but steered a free header wide of the post.

What Tribbett did do well went mostly unnoticed. He had a couple of big aerial wins early in the game, in addition to a nice clearance in the late stages. There was also a goal-line clearance on a play that was whistled offside.

At this point, it feels like Josh Yaro might be the better option at right center back.

Keegan Rosenberry: B-

With the way that Philly pushes their full backs up the field, he's usually completely helpless in defense when the center backs turn the ball over. That's really a coaching and design issue, and less on Rosenberry, but sometimes he's just going to have to adjust on the fly if the RCB is struggling.

Rosenberry's best passage in this game was the ball that he weighted into the channel for Barnetta, who swung a layoff pass to Herbers.

Andre Blake: B+

I thought he might get a hand on Kemp's goal, especially after all of the amazing saves he's pulled off this season.

His monstrous double-save preserved the late lead, before the team ultimately caved.

Substitutes:

45' Warren Creavalle: C+

He came in for the injured Brian Carroll and played his typical game. He can press and harass with the best of them, but still doesn't move the ball the way that other sixes do.

70' Walter Restrepo: C

I like what he brings on the wing, but there was one great sequence where he just couldn't make up his mind and blew a decent chance to make it 3 to 1.

80' Charlie Davies:  N/A

Again, he comes into a game where his team is just trying to hold on and defend. He's the release valve up top. He did the necessary work coming back, but a botched clearance from Marquez gave D.C. another look at goal.

Referee: Jair Marrufo: B

He let the teams play and decided to be conservative with his cards.

Follow Kevin on Twitter: @Kevin_Kinkead