The New England Revolution extended their unbeaten streak to four games by getting another win on the road against Real Salt Lake Saturday.
In their three trips to Rice-Eccles Stadium the Revolution have never lost, maintaining an impressive record of 2-0-1 while playing in Utah.
The latest win was a sound 2-1 victory Saturday night where the Revs dictated the pace of large portions of the game. Even with the nifty performance on the road, and at altitude, the Revolution players can still see room for improvement.
"We're happy to come out of here with three points," said Pat Noonan, "but we still know that we let our guard down for a bit. I think we need to put teams away when we get the lead -- have that killer instinct -- we know we can do better."
Their first lead came in the 38th minute on a goal from Noonan, who was on the end of a crisp passing combination. Jeff Larentowicz lofted a pass into Twellman, who deftly knocked it down for Noonan to finish.
"It was a good ball in from Jeff Larentowicz to see Taylor [Twellman]," said Noonan, "and he laid it off perfectly. I kind of waited to see if anyone would commit and nobody did. So, I just tried to put it on target."
The Revs continued to control play and even went up a man when Andy Williams was sent off in the 67th for a hard foul on Andy Dorman. But, RSL converted a penalty in the 72nd minute and New England's lead evaporated.
"When we're up 1-0 and up a man there is no reason for us to give up a goal," said Revolution captain Steve Ralston. "We always make it difficult on ourselves.
"We pride ourselves on being a good passing team, and we stop passing the ball. We turned it off for a few minutes there and we got punished."
The trend of easing up when the other team loses a player is one that Ralston has seen with his team already this year. It's one that he knows they can correct, but it will take some effort.
"We've had a couple situations this year where we've been up a man and thought it was going to come easy," said Ralston. "We got to keep working and keep doing the things we do well and really get forward and get after them. Tonight, we were dropping in a little too deep and giving them too much time in the back. To play well we should have been pressing the game and pressing the issue."
Larentowicz was the hero with his laser of a strike to get the win in the final 10 minutes. After Noonan was fouled just outside the penalty area the young midfielder stood over the ball along with Ralston and Twellman. The captain pointed to Larentowicz, who sent a cracker into the far side netting.
"I haven't taken a free kick all year," said Larentowicz. "I just had that feeling and grabbed the ball and put it down how I wanted it. Steve Ralston comes up -- who normally hit one -- and just says, 'hit it far post and hit it inside out and it's yours.' He's the captain, he's the oldest guy, and he usually takes all the free kicks and he gave me his blessing.
"It was just one of those feelings that you get and you had to act on it."
It's not every day that a team is better away from home, but the Revs have notched five of their eight victories this year away from Gillete Stadium.
Larentowicz has a theory that the added pressure of being on the road helps the team focus.
"We can't really blame it on anything at home ... on the road, it's a heightened concentration that the team has," he said.
"Being top of the table and coming here -- where they're not doing as well -- you might still feel like the favorite, but on the road you got the fans going against you and you always have that little edge where you feel like the underdog."
Revolution head coach Steve Nicol is happy to get results, whether they're at home or on road, but like any good coach he sees room for improvement.
"Away from home you should be glad to take anything," said Nicol. "I think we felt we deserved the three points. The best football that was played came from us. And, really we would have liked to see the game out 1-0.
"For me, we dominated the game and to be 1-1 with 15 minutes to go was a bit harsh on us. We have some steel and courage and it was a fantastic strike [from Larentowicz]."
Scott McAllister is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
