After his team beat FC Dallas 1-0 at Pizza Hut Park on Thursday, New England Revolution head coach Steve Nicol admitted that he wasn't all that surprised with how well his team performed in a 4-4-2 formation, a change from their customary 3-5-2 due to a wave of injured players.
"I said earlier on in the season that there is no hopeless case with this team," Nicol said. "They always think they're going to come up and get something. To come here with six guys who would probably be starting and get three points is a fantastic result for us."
New England got their only goal of the night in the 72nd minute from Khano Smith. The Bermudan midfielder chased down a ball Kheli Dube sent to nearly the left touchline in the FCD attacking third.
Smith won a battle with the Hoops' Dax McCarty, breaking past to regain possession. Then he was off to the races. Once he was right at the edge of the FCD box, he hit a low, right-footed shot that landed in the far side of the net for the only goal of the night.
"I beat him (McCarty)," Smith said. "It actually hit his hand but the ref let the play go on, so I was able to get in front of him and get to the ball. I was trying to go outside actually but he kept showing me inside. As I got close to the box, I decided to take a shot with my right."
The Revs came into tonight's match missing a pair of players who were in the starting 11 from last Saturday's 1-1 draw at New York in midfielders Jeff Larentowicz, who had their only goal in that draw and Sainey Nyassi.
With Steve Ralston and Taylor Twellman already sidelined with injuries along with Chris Albright, New England came to town a bit depleted in terms of available personnel.
"At the end of the day, we believe in everybody that's on this team," Smith said. "We've got a competitive team and have guys who can step in and get minutes because we've got a lot of games this year. We can't worry about who's not playing. It's going to be better when guys like Taylor (Twellman) and Rallie (Steve Ralston) come back. We're just going to be stronger."
In the opening half, New England had eight shots to FCD's four. The Hoops put more men forward in the second half, especially after the goal, and finished with a 16-13 edge in shots. But for the most part the visitors did a nice job of limiting the home side's chances.
"That was the gameplan coming in," New England defender Michael Parkhurst said. "We wanted to make sure that we were tight in the back. If we got something going forward, then great. But the first thing that we wanted to concentrate on was not giving them much space in the back. We did a good job until late in the game when they were pushing a lot of guys and got a couple of good crosses in."
Nicol agreed that his backline held up well under pressure, especially late in the game.
"We knew we had to keep it tight because they do throw men forward," Nicol said. "So it was important that we didn't leave any holes. The objective was to come here and be solid. We wanted to find our feet in the game and get forward. I think we did that."
Last weekend at New York, the Revs were trailing 1-0 and down a man when Larentowicz drew the match level by scoring off a free kick in the second half. But Smith wasn't about to attribute Thursday's win to any momentum from that hard-fought draw.
"We passed the ball well again tonight, which we did against New York even with 10 men," he said. "That's our bread and butter. As long as we're passing the ball, we're going to always create chances. I wouldn't say it's momentum but we're playing well. We can obviously play better."
For Parkhurst, the result just drove home how deep the Revs are along with how much character they possess.
"Every win feels awesome, especially on the road," he said. "To come and do it with some guys getting their first starts shows the character of the team and the depth of the guys. Everybody who came in and played did their part for the team. It was a gutsy performance, not the prettiest one but three points on the road is invaluable and speaks volumes."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
