FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Diego Fagundez scored his third goal in three games to give New England a 2-0 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night.
The in-form forward lashed home a Chris Tierney cross at the back post to provide the margin of victory after 23 minutes. Juan Agudelo added the second from a Saër Sène cross in second-half stoppage time to guarantee the victory against the out-of-sorts visitors.
The pair of goals handed the Revs all three points for the second consecutive week and sent TFC to its fifth consecutive defeat its and ninth straight match without a victory.
New England asserted control over the proceedings from the opening whistle and pinned the visitors inside their own half. It took a while for that territorial to manifest on the scoreboard, but the Revs eventually produced a well-worked breakthrough to consolidated their advantage.
Tierney – marking his 100th start for the club in some style – carved out a yard of space on the left hand side. The curling service froze the Reds rearguard and located Fagundez at the far post. Fagundez gleefully lashed home his third goal in as many matches to stake the Revs to a lead.
On-loan TFC striker Jeremy Brockie attempted to produce a response second interval, but his errant header from close range sent the Reds into halftime with a one-goal deficit.
TFC improved to start the second half and posed a couple of problems. Brockie again found himself at the heart of a move after Matias Laba played him through from midfield. The New Zealand international squandered the move by producing a poor pullback with Robert Earnshaw free from six yards.
OPTA Chalkboard: TFC dominated the duels throughout the match, but couldn't capitalize
New England gradually warmed to its task in the second half and restricted Toronto FC's opportunities after that juncture. Lee Nguyen even rattled the underside of the crossbar on the hour mark as the Revolution went in search of the second goal required to kill off the game.
As the final half-hour petered out, it became clear that the home side would not need to produce another goal in order to win the game. It eventually arrived anyway as Agudelo moved into the right spot to divert Sène's cross into the net to erase any doubt about the result in second-half stoppage time.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
Rank |
Player |
What We Saw |
1 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/Chris-Tierney"><span style="font-size:12px;">Chris Tierney</span></a> |
New England's veteran defender displayed great two-way play, tracking back well on defense, and setting up the Revs' first goal |
2 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/Diego-Fagundez"><span style="font-size:12px;">Diego Fagundez</span></a> |
The Revs' talented midfielder went the full 90, tallying his team-leading fourth goal, his third in as many games |
3 |
<a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/Jonathan-Osorio"><span style="font-size:12px;">Jonathan Osorio</span></a> |
TFC entered the second half completely outplayed. Osorio came on at the half and set the pace for the second half as the Reds made a push |
