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Revolution send Dynamo to first home loss

Jul 26, 2009 - 4:24 AM By JEREMY RAKES STATS MLS Correspondent

HOUSTON (STATS) ? New England continued one streak Saturday night, while ending a year-long Houston streak.

Kheli Dube scored in the 76th minute and Matt Reis notched his third straight shutout to lead New England to a 1-0 win over Houston that extended the Revolution's unbeaten streak to three games and sent the Dynamo to their first home loss of the season.

It was Houston's first home MLS regular-season loss since a 2-0 defeat to New England on June 12, 2008.

"It is up to the players to the get the job done, and I give full credit to them," Revs coach Steve Nicol said. "This was a huge win for us. You have to compete off the bat against Houston, which we did.

"We want to keep carrying on and continue winning, but we have to take things one game at a time. Houston is a tough team, and we are delighted to get the win tonight."

Dube netted the game's only goal off a feed from Steve Ralston. Kevin Alston sent a pass to Ralston in the upper right box, and Ralston made a run on the right side, drawing Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad off his line. Ralston fed it to Dube on the left side, who tapped it into the empty net for his third goal of the season and second in as many games.

Reis saved the match and New England's 352-minute shutout streak in the 91st minute with a jumping save of Julius James' header. Off a corner kick, James headed a loose ball from the middle of the net. Reis, who was off his line to the right of the box, came back through the middle of the 6-yard box and batted the ball over the cross bar.

"Both teams created a lot of chances, and we were fortunate to get the three points," said Reis, who made eight saves. "We needed the three points. If you don't give teams a chance to score, then it will give us a chance to win, and that's what we have been doing."

Houston had its chances, but coach Dominic Kinnear called the loss disappointing.

"We didn't play well, and we know it was a game we could have played better," Kinnear said. "Our possession was OK, but the further we got up the field, we were either forcing the issue or not being explosive enough.

"I think we had a decent handle on the game, created some decent chances, Reis made some good saves. We were a little fatigued obviously. We're not devastated with this loss, but we think we can play better, tired or not."

The loss was Houston's third in five matches after an 11-game unbeaten streak. The Dynamo entered 5-0-3 at home, but were missing six starters. Forward Brian Ching and midfielder Stuart Holden are with the US National team in the Gold Cup, and Brian Mullan, Wade Barrett, Richard Mulrooney and Eddie Robinson sat out with injuries.

Houston enters the All-Star break with the league's best record, but was not happy with the loss.

"Certainly not our best performance," said Onstad, who made four saves. "We didn't play particularly well or with a lot of energy. It wasn't from a lack of effort, we just were a little flat. We didn't play well and we got punished for it."