The New England Revolution extended their unbeaten streak to eight games and secured their hold on first place in the Eastern Conference with a 2-0 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday night at BMO Field.
The Revolution improved to 7-1-3 overall and 3-1-1 on the road while second year goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic picked up his fifth clean sheet of the season and 12th of his MLS career.
The Revolution will be back on the home pitch Tuesday night (7:30) when they take on the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC of the USSF in a Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup match. The Revs resume MLS play at Inter Miami CF on May 13.
“It is a good win, especially on the road,” said Revolution head coach Bruce Arena. “Winning games like this on the road is difficult and therefore I would agree that this is a pretty good win in terms of us being able to dictate the terms of the game for many minutes.
“It was one of our better performances.”
Arena made significant changes to the Starting XI that forged a 1-1 draw against FC Cincinnati at Gillette Stadium on April 29. Arena replaced solo striker Justin Rennicks with dual attackers Bobby Wood and Esmir Bajraktarevic.
The formation change was warranted after attacking wing Dylan Borrero suffered a season-ending left knee injury against Cincinnati. Center back Andrew Farrell made his fourth start in place on Henry Kessler, who is out with a hamstring problem. The Revolution swarmed the Reds in the early going and Toronto veteran keeper Sean Johnson made a phenomenal stop on Emmanuel Boateng in the 15th minute.
The Revolution went up 1-0 on a huge individual effort by Wood in the 19th minute. Wood undressed TFC defender Sigurd Rosted at midfield and streaked down the middle of the pitch on a breakaway. Wood entered the penalty area and slipped the ball between Johnson’s legs for his third of the season.
Petrovic was twice caught out of position and escaped unscathed but went unchallenged on four quality set pieces by the Reds to keep TFC off the board in the first half.
“He (Wood) obviously jumped on a mistake the center back made,” said Arena. “He did a good job holding off the defender and then finishing off the play and obviously a big goal in the game.”
The Reds opened the second half with a sense of urgency and went at Petrovic with a pair of corner kicks and uncontested shots from outside the box.
The Revolution went up 2-0 after Arena put Latif Blessing and Jozy Altidore into the game in the 60th minute. Carles Gil got possession of the ball inside the penalty area and unloaded on Johnson, who made a fantastic save. Left back DeJuan Jones collected the rebound and found the back of the net in the 62nd minute with his first of the season.
“DeJuan moves in parts of the field that are dangerous when he is in the attack certainly,” said Arena. “He continues to grow as a player and we work with him all the time at the things he can get better at.”