Out-shot, out-possessed and at times outplayed, the New England Revolution wouldn’t be outdone on Sunday night, defeating Toronto FC 3-1 at BMO Field to extend their winning streak to five games and unbeaten run to seven.
The Revs had to dig deep on Sunday, with TFC relentlessly attacking for large stretches of the match and earning over 60 percent of the possession. Toronto also registered 21 shots, five of which were on goal, but they were unable to capitalize early and had to play catchup from the beginning following Damien Perquis’ fourth-minute own goal.
“I thought it was not our best game by any stretch,” New England head coach Jay Heaps said after the victory. “But we really worked hard. Guys fought like heck. I was really proud by the way Scotty [Caldwell] and Jermaine [Jones] played together. I was really proud of the way [Andrew] Farrell and Jose [Goncalves] and our entire back line, it was team effort tonight. It wasn’t our prettiest, but we fought and dug and I’m really proud of them.”
Diego Fagundez’s third goal in as many games gave New England a 2-0 lead shortly before halftime, but Toronto came out in full force to start the second. TFC pulled one back in the 55th minute when Robbie Findley headed home a Justin Morrow cross, but New England settled down shortly thereafter, controlling more of the ball and starting to keep it deep in Toronto’s territory.
The Revs’ better play paid off in the 71st minute, when substitute midfielder Kelyn Rowe took advantage of a Michael Bradley turnover to find the back of the net and restore New England’s two-goal advantage.
“As the game went on, I thought were able to stem them a little bit after we took the barrage after the first 15 minutes of the half,” said Heaps. “Then the second half really became ours. I thought our possession started to get better and we started to get more things in their half, and more chances in their half as the game went on.”
Regardless of any aesthetics or statistics, at this point in the season, the only thing that matters is the final result. The Revs got that in emphatic fashion on Sunday, and now return home ahead of Wednesday’s huge clash against the Red Bulls with a shot to leapfrog New York and take the top spot in the Eastern Conference.
“Sometimes, it’s not going to be the greatest game, but if we fight and we do out hard work, we can get three points,” said Fagundez.
Added Farrell: “I think it was good for us to get a good result against a good team away from home. They’re a really good team, a great front six and solid at the back. We were on the back foot a bit to start the game, they hit the post a couple times then we hit them on the counter a couple times where we got most of our success. We were defensively sound all game and got goals from the guys up top, all in all a great result.”
