Pat Noonan was only on the field for 18 minutes, but the New England Revolution striker made them count as his team defeated the New York Red Bulls 1-0 on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium.
Noonan tallied the match's only goal after eight minutes when he ran through to latch onto Steve Ralston's angled pass and curl his attempt past Red Bulls 'keeper Jon Conway. The striker suffered an apparent tweak to a right hamstring injury and was withdrawn in the 18th minute.
But for Conway, the margin could have been greater as the Revolution peppered the Red Bulls goal repeatedly with Clint Dempsey and Andy Dorman each going close on a couple of attempts, only to find the New York 'keeper in sterling form.
Amado Guevara compounded the misery for the Red Bulls in the 81st minute by drawing two quick yellow cards from referee Brian Hall and the subsequent sending off.
Red Bulls head coach Bruce Arena was forced to make a late change as Todd Dunivant strained his left quadriceps muscle in warmups. Seth Stammler moved back into the back four for the injured left back as the dropped Edson Buddle returned to the lineup, and Conway was preferred to Tony Meola. For the Revolution, Avery John earned a start at left back in place of James Riley while Noonan also returned to the starting lineup after missing the team's last two matches with a hamstring injury.
Noonan scored the game's only tally eight minutes into the contest. Jay Heaps played Ralston in the midfield and Ralston's angled ball beat the Red Bulls backline and found the run of Noonan.
The striker eluded Carlos Mendes and curled his shot past Conway with the outside of his right boot. The finish was Noonan's first goal of the season and his 11th in 14 career regular season matches against the New York club.
Noonan was then taken off 10 minutes later with an apparent recurrence of the right hamstring injury that had kept him off the field for the past two weeks. Jeff Larentowicz was sent on to replace Noonan with Dempsey shifting to forward to partner with Taylor Twellman.
Edson Buddle should have done better with his 41st-minute chance as the Red Bulls passed inside the Revolution area and the ball squirted to the striker. His effort was well wide of the mark from 16 yards.
Dempsey, who suffered multiple challenges in the first half and coerced two yellow card challenges from the Red Bulls, lost his composure as the half drew to a close, earning himself a booking for jostling with Jeff Parke.
The match sparked to life after the interval with three chances within six minutes of the restart.
Dorman's heavy first touch on 48 minutes spoiled a late run that left him one on one with 'keeper Conway. Shalrie Joseph played the ball over the top, but Dorman's touch played the ball too far and allowed Conway to save at his feet.
Dempsey provided a sterner test for Conway two minutes later after his 22-yard strike across his body went across the face of goal towards the far corner only for Conway to dive low and push the ball aside.
Revolution 'keeper Matt Reis made his contribution down the other end a minute later after Buddle beat Joseph to the ball and looped a header to the far post only for Reis to dive and palm the ball acrobatically around the post.
Dempsey had another chance on 67 minutes after Joseph's diagonal through ball was inch-perfect and beat the Red Bulls backline but Dempsey could not keep his effort inside the near post.
As the Revolution gradually consolidated their foothold on the contest, Dorman was the next to test Conway only for the Red Bulls 'keeper to tap Dorman's effort over the bar after good buildup work inside the penalty area from the home team.
A crucial intervention from Parke stopped Dorman's backheel from reaching its intended destination: the run of Dempsey through the center of the penalty area. Dempsey then forced another save from Conway with a low effort on 77 minutes.
The evening ended miserably for the Red Bulls as Guevara was ejected by referee Hall after receiving two yellow cards in the space of mere seconds in the 81st minute and the Red Bulls could not scrape an equalizer in the waning minutes of the contest.
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
