After a few weeks of toiling without the desired reward, the New England Revolution finally secured the three points they desired.
Kheli Dube's second-half winner broke the deadlock as the Revs extended their unbeaten run in Houston to five matches (4-0-1) with a 2-1 victory over the Dynamo on Sunday night.
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Revolution boss Steve Nicol said his side forged the template for its first victory since a 3-1 win over Seattle on Sept. 4 by ignoring the concerns presented by a meager 15-man squad and focusing on the difficult task at hand.
“I think tonight we put on a really good professional show,” Nicol told reporters after the match. “I didn’t think we gave too much away. We scored two good goals away from home and, overall, it was a good performance.”
Securing another away victory over the Dynamo required equal parts application and skill. The two sides offered up their traditional share of meaty challenges, but New England emerged with all three points because of its ability to persevere throughout the night and take advantage of the Dynamo's mistakes at the back.
Both Revolution goals stemmed from a healthy dose of opportunism in the attacking third. Shalrie Joseph latched onto Emmanuel Osei's hopeful lump up field when the Houston back four stood still and slotted home the opener two minutes before halftime.
After Dominic Oduro equalized early in the second half with the help of a dropped Osei mark at the back post, Kheli Dube decided the match in the 73rd minute with a thumping one-time finish prompted by Ilija Stolica's inch-perfect square pass in the aftermath of Ryan Cochrane's dawdling on the edge of the area.
“I think it was maybe a mistake from [Cochrane],” Stolica explained. “He was trying to dribble when it’s not good for one defender to try and dribble. I took my chance and gave my assist to Kheli. I saw him immediately, and I was just waiting for good timing and a good moment.”
Dube's third goal in as many appearances in Houston provided the margin of victory on a night when the Revs managed to overcome the absences of a host of key players and ride the timely interventions by goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth to snatch all three points.
“We have been having a tough season all year long, but right now we are just trying to get a good finish,” Dube said. “We are just trying to finish the season on a high note. It’s going to be the same thing for the last [two games].”
