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Sporting returns home to face Heaps, New England

Mar 16, 2012 - 6:57 PM Kansas City, KS (Sports Network) - It wasn't until June 9 last season that Sporting Kansas City played its first game at home.

So the fact that Saturday's match with the New England Revolution will be at Livestrong Sporting Park will come as a bonus after a 1-0 win at D.C. United last weekend.

Sporting forward C.J. Sapong came off the bench to head home the lone goal of the game in the third minute of stoppage time, but he felt that the result was a deserved one based on the team's play over the course of 90 minutes.

"We were knocking the ball around very nicely the whole game, but the final pass, the final shot wasn't there," said Sapong, who came on for Teal Bunbury after 75 minutes. "The last 10 minutes, we stepped it up and they couldn't handle it. You could hear them out there, hoping for a tie. We definitely deserved the win."

Kansas City striker Kei Kamara and his team went 9-2-6 at Livestrong Sporting Park last term, and Kamara believes Sporting got off to just the right start despite the tough time they had in breaking down United.

"There's not a whole lot right now that I thought we did poorly," Kamara said following the win. "I think we came in with a game plan, we executed it really well. It's just a great result."

The Revs found themselves on the other end of a close 1-0 defeat to San Jose, spoiling the debut of head coach Jay Heaps.

"I'm a little disappointed in the way we played. We're still getting accustomed to movements and the way we (want to) play," said Heaps. "The overall technique tonight just wasn't there. They came out flying. We matched their intensity. They continued to press, and we didn't sort it out. Unfortunately, we gave up a goal, and we never really got back (into the game) after that."

Heaps had better get things sorted quickly because his team will play four of its first five games on the road, where New England won just once in 17 games last campaign.

But it wasn't all negative according to Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis, who feels his side can take some positives from the contest.

"You can't give other teams chances. We did that a lot last year, and it really hurt us," Reis said. "It's something that we have to get better at. In the end, there are a lot of positives to take out of this. It's definitely something we can move forward with."