They've won just once in their last six games and needed a Juan Pablo Angel goal six minutes from full time to get a point against the New England Revolution on Saturday night at Giants Stadium.
The New York Red Bulls are clinging to third place in the Eastern Conference by one point, but there is a confidence in the New York locker room that should the two rivals meet in the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series, the Red Bulls can beat New England.
"It was a great game," Angel said. "If we keep playing like that, I think we're going to win more games than we're going to lose the rest of the year. It was probably one of the best games we've played so far at Giants Stadium."
The Red Bulls twice lost to the Revs by a single goal this year and played to a 2-2 draw Saturday night. New York hasn't beaten the Revs since Sept. 17, 2005, but the Red Bulls have played well in each of the games and that's a positive looking forward.
"To be honest, all three games against them this year have been pretty even," Claudio Reyna said. "In our head-to-head against them, the results haven't been right, but the performances have been good and especially after tonight, I think if we play them again next time I think we'll have some confidence if we were to play them in the playoffs."
As was the case at Gillette Stadium Aug. 25, the Red Bulls gave up a fluky goal off a defensive miscue. There, it was an own goal on a ball played from Carlos Mendes to Jon Conway that did in the Red Bulls.
At Giants Stadium on Saturday night, it was a poor clearance by Chris Leitch that went off the chest of Taylor Twellman, who fended off Seth Stammler to score his second goal of the game in the 70th minute.
"It was crazy to concede the second goal because I think right from go we were on top of them in the second half and we were creating the chances," Angel said. "We all felt bad, but we kept going, kept believing in ourselves and we kept them on their toes for the 90 minutes, We should have won the game. We were the better team on the night."
Despite giving up the late goal, the Red Bulls rallied for Angel's equalizer, his 16th goal of the year which ties him with fellow Colombian Adolfo Valencia for most goals scored in a single season for the club, set in 2000.
"I'm happy about it but I'm more happy the goal helped us to tie the game up today," Angel said.
Added Dave van den Bergh: "It's good that we fought back from behind down twice, but we need to be a little smarter on some defensive plays. If we can take those mental errors out of the game, I think we're going to be a very tough team to beat in the playoffs."
Another positive in the game was the play of Francis Doe, who scored his first career MLS goal in his second consecutive MLS start.
"He played well tonight," Red Bulls boss Bruce Arena said. "He's a dangerous attacking player who is finding his way with our team and finding his fitness. He had a big goal tonight, and he had some decent chances."
After Twellman put the Revs in front, heading in a Steve Ralston free kick on 22 minutes, Doe equalized in the 37th, tapping Dane Richards' cross past Matt Reis.
"I feel very happy about the goal because it's my first 90-minute game," Doe said. "I'm so happy."
The Red Bulls have four games remaining, two against conference foes. Even though their only win in the past month has come at home against Chicago, Arena likes the way his team has played in the last two games -- draws at Chicago and home against New England.
"Right now, our focus is to qualify for the playoffs -- we're not there yet, we have a way to go and we have to get better," Arena said. "The effort in Chicago last week and the effort this week was good. We can build on this."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
