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New England hopes to snap skid against Toronto

Jun 15, 2011 - 12:58 AM Foxborough, MA (Sports Network) - New England coach Steve Nicol believed the club was "robbed" against Red Bull New York on Friday, making Wednesday's game against Toronto FC even more important for his struggling club.

New England lost 2-1 to Red Bull New York on Friday night, and Nicol believed "we had enough chances to win two games on the night, never mind one game."

In addition to a missed penalty by Shalrie Joseph ("When things are not going for you, that's what happens," Nicol said,), the Revolution wasted other solid chances and made mistakes that led to their fourth straight loss.

"We gave a couple of chances up but," Nicol said, "at the same time, we kind of feel robbed."

New England has scored just two goals in its last four matches and have failed to score in six of their last 10 matches, a streak that includes seven losses.

With the first of two home games at Gillette Stadium this week against Toronto FC, the Revolution hope to get more points out of this match.

"I think we feel like we did some good things (against New York)," New England midfielder Pat Phelan said. "They're a good side, it's a tough place to play.

"We could have gotten more out of the game. We should have gotten more out of the game."

New England has never failed to earn points at home against Toronto, winning four of the clubs' five all-time meetings. And in two home matches against its Eastern Conference foes this year, New England has a pair of wins.

The Revolution hope Toronto is the first of two three-point results this week, as the struggling Chicago Fire visit Saturday, but the squad remains without midfielders Benny Feilhaber and Marko Perovic due to injuries.

Toronto (2-5-8) also has injury problems, with defenders Adrian Cann and Nana Attakora out. In addition, midfielder Julian De Guzman (Canada) and defender Dicoy Williams (Jamaica) are on international duty at the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

First-year coach Aron Winter takes his club to New England on a six-game skid, but Saturday's 2-2 draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy was the Canadian club's second straight tie and ended with a dramatic equalizing goal.

Alan Gordon scored two goals in a match for the third time in his career, both times answering a goal from his former team. His second goal came in stoppage time, giving Toronto a share of the points.

"At halftime we got together and we needed to come out with some pride, some heart and some fight," Gordon said. "It's something that we haven't been doing a lot of lately and we really did it.

"In the second half we played 45 good minutes we now have to now build on that and put together 90 minutes, get some points and move up the table."

Toronto has just 14 points from 15 matches and has just a one-point cushion on New England, which has just 13 points from 14 matches, near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Sporting Kansas City is last with 10 points from 12 games.