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RSL aims to continue winning ways against New York

Sep 20, 2011 - 9:42 PM Harrison, NJ (Sports Network) - Real Salt Lake appears to be gearing up for a playoff push as the club brings a four-game winning streak to Red Bull Arena on Wednesday to face Red Bull New York.

Jason Kreis saw his team record a 1-0 win over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday to move into third place in the Western Conference table, three points back of second-place Seattle with two games in hand.

RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando recorded his 12th clean sheet of the season in the win, and Kreis feels that the way his team won the match was what impressed him the most.

"I believe that this team can win in multiple ways," Kreis said. "I think it sends a message to the rest of the league that if a brawl is going to break out and it's going to be a wrestling match, well, we can win that way too."

One player who has played a huge role in the success of the team is midfielder Kyle Beckerman, but he will miss Wednesday's match due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

Salt Lake is starting to resemble a team that is primed for another run at the MLS Cup, while New York enters the match on the heels of a 1-0 win at FC Dallas that snapped an eight-game winless streak.

The Red Bulls have underachieved badly so far this season, but the club is still just three points back of the Philadelphia Union for third place in the East.

New York needs to start by getting healthy as striker Thierry Henry missed Saturday's game because an Achilles injury, while Luke Rodgers returned to the lineup after battling plantar fasciitis and scored the lone goal in 45 minutes of play before coming off.

Goalkeeper Frank Rost returned as well after spending the past month on the sidelines with a quadriceps injury, and he was able to record a clean sheet in a match that certainly wasn't pretty.

"We're not going to try to hide behind some veil of beautiful soccer tonight," New York defender Chris Albright said following the match. "It certainly wasn't the case. It's a long season, 34 games. Sometimes you have got to go on the road and weather the storm, keep a zero in the back. That was huge. We haven't done that in a long time."

The win was just the second away from home this season for New York, which will try to put back-to-back victories together for the first time since late April.