FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It didn't take much in the way of insight to expect an onslaught from the Kansas City Wizards as the minutes ticked away on Saturday night.
The Wizards needed a win to keep their narrow playoff hopes alive for at least a few more hours, and the New England Revolution held a narrow one-goal lead after Shalrie Joseph's 31st minute opener.
Even though New England’s revamped back four knew the pressure would eventually arrive, that knowledge didn't necessarily make the task any easier. With Cory Gibbs suspended due to yellow card accumulation, Revs head coach Steve Nicol made yet another change to his back four – Seth Sinovic returned at left back and forced Emmanuel Osei and Chris Tierney to shift into different roles – to adjust to Gibbs' absence.
Despite those alterations and despite Kansas City's willingness to commit numbers into the attack, the Revs soaked up the pressure and sent the Wizards crashing out of the playoff chase by holding on for the shutout and a 1-0 victory.
“For the most part, we did alright (defensively),” Tierney told MLSsoccer.com after the victory. “We were strong, which was number one. There are different guys coming in and it's hard to get used to it when it's changing every week, but we battled hard. For the most part, we won our challenges and had a little bit of luck. Overall, we did pretty well.”
Revolution coach Steve Nicol credited his defensive group for eliminating the untimely errors that had cost them points in previous matches and persevering through the Wizards' pressure in order to seal a second consecutive win.
“We've talked about making bad decisions that have cost us during the season,” Nicol said. “Tonight, we made good decisions as far as being in good positions to deal with balls into the box or whatever they threw us.”
A similarly direct approach yielded Joseph's winner. Tierney played a longball over the top of the Wizards' back four and tempted Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen to rush off his line to claim it. Joseph made a timely run, headed the ball around Nielsen and calmly stroked home his fourth goal of the season.
“He made a great run out of midfield and there was obviously space in behind,” Tierney said. “They helped us out a little bit and the ‘keeper came off his line for whatever reason. Shalrie did great to finish it. You have to get players like Shalrie the ball whenever they call for it because good things happen.”
Those good things ended the Revolution's home slate with a flourish and guaranteed a fine run of form would carry into Thursday's season finale at Red Bull Arena against the New York Red Bulls.
“We had a couple of chances that we didn't take,” Nicol said. “I don't remember them having a really clear chance. We have to be happy with that. It's a win.”
