The league-leading Vancouver Whitecaps got back to winning ways at Real Salt Lake on Saturday evening, putting in a controlled performance to come away with a 1-0 victory at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Keen to show that last week's dismal display at San Jose was just a blip, Vancouver grabbed their first-ever win in Utah and their third road win of the season thanks to Darren Mattocks' 80th-minute header.
Recent matches between the two teams have been feisty affairs and heading into the game, 'Caps coach Carl Robinson had made it clear that the team that showed calmer heads would prevail.
So it proved to be, as Real Salt Lake finished the match with nine men and Vancouver came away with the win.
"Proud of my team today because it was a thoroughly professional performance," 'Caps coach Carl Robinson told Vancouver's TSN 1410 radio after the game. "A disciplined performance and obviously getting the goal at the end topped it. They should be proud of themselves today."
Missing their influential captain Pedro Morales, who was suspended for the match, Vancouver made a major tactical change for the game, veering away from their standard 4-2-3-1 formation and playing what amounted to three defensive midfielders and two up front.
The new-look 'Caps played a cautious and defense-minded first half, before going on to control play in the second. The way his side adapted to the late change was almost as pleasing to Robinson as coming away with the three points, and he had high praise for the way his players quickly adjusted to their new approach.
"I hit them with this yesterday," Robinson said of the tactical change. "[About] how we were going to play and the roles and responsibilities for each personnel.
"For them to take that on board within 24 hours, without really doing much work on it, they showed today they're smart footballers as well as talented footballers. They should be given a lot of credit for that, but now I'm going to challenge them even more."
Robinson has been pretty rigid in playing with a two-man defensive shield and a lone striker up top, but the Welshman revealed just what was behind the late switch and why he felt it was right to make it now against Salt Lake.
"When you go away from home, it's important that you understand your role," Robinson added. "We could go gung-ho. But we've been here before and we've played with a diamond, we've played with a 4-2-3-1 but as everyone keeps telling me, we never win. It was an adjustment that's been made based on how best we could win the game today.
"Yes, we were a little bit cautious, but we tried to isolate the two center backs on our two center forwards on the pitch today. It worked to a tee."
While Robinson was quick to laud the performance of his entire team in the win, he singled out particular praise for that of his goalscoring hero Mattocks, who rose superbly to head home a perfect cross from Russell Teibert with 10 minutes remaining.
"He was excellent," Robinson said of Mattocks' performance. "He's had the bit between the teeth since he's come back from Jamaica [from international duty] and rightly so. He's got his second goal in three games and his work rate was second to none.
“If you're going to get anything at Salt Lake, you have to put a shift in and he put a fantastic shift in."
Michael McColl covers the Vancouver Whitecaps for MLSsoccer.com.
