Adam Cristman scored two goals for New England on Friday night while the Revolution defense was nearly impenetrable as the league's highest-scoring offense managed just three shots on goal.
But Revolution coach Steve Nicol was not exactly thrilled with the way his team went about its 2-1 victory against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
"We should have been 4-0 up and the game should have been over," Nicol said. "You can't afford to miss. ... We had two chances that should have been goals that would have killed the game. We end up holding on at the end. We felt like we deserved to win but we certainly made it difficult for ourselves."
New England held a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals from Adam Cristman but the Revolution forward had two passes to open teammates within the box that could have made the ending a lot more anticlimactic than it was.
At the end of the first half, Cristman found Mauricio Castro alone from 15 yards out but Castro rattled a shot off the right post. Then, Cristman walked past the Galaxy backline early in the second half and found Kheli Dube 12 yards out but the rookie fanned on his attempt.
"We really shot ourselves in the foot not scoring one of those to put the game away. It would have been a lot easier for us," Revolution captain Steve Ralston said. "For some reason, we like to make things interesting."
Carrying a 2-0 lead that should have been twice that took a bit of a mental toll on the players, and it brought back some memories from the Revolution's last trip to Carson.
"We easily could have been up 3-0 at halftime, and 3-0 is a lot better lead than 2-0. in the second half, we had a couple of chances to make it 3-0," Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst said. "We've had a couple of games like that. Last game here at Home Depot against Chivas, we let in a late goal and were barely able to hang on to win. It's something we need to get better at collectively, to put the dagger in teams and not make it close at the end."
Save for Castro's failed opportunity in stoppage time, the Revolution dominated the first half and players felt good about what the club was able to do to the Galaxy. With Landon Donovan not starting due to illness, the Revolution stopped David Beckham and the Galaxy's high-octane offense simply by denying them the ball.
"It was a team effort, really, top to bottom really we did a great job of closing them down," Parkhurst said. "In the first half especially we were able to keep the ball. They're not going to get chances if we keep the ball and we did a great job of that in the first half. We made them chase it and we put them under pressure."
Cristman punctuated the half by knocking in a pair of goals off corner kicks.
On the first, Cristman was in perfect position to score.
"Mauricio whipped in a great ball," Cristman said. "Shalrie (Joseph) got a good head on it and made it difficult for the 'keeper to save it and gave up a rebound. I was there back post to just tap it in."
Cristman took care of scoring the second one all on his own.
"Steve served a great ball and just came in from the back post and jumped in the air and over Abel Xavier and just tried to get a head on it," he said. "I was trying to just stay on the other side of Abel and try keep him turned around and so he wouldn't know where I was. He turned to look at the ball and I came in behind me. I guess he lost me."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
