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Union hope to continue hot streak vs. Impact

Aug 3, 2012 - 8:19 PM Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - The Philadelphia Union enter this weekend's action as one of Major League Soccer's hottest teams, and they will look to continue that roll Saturday when it heads to the Stade Saputo to face the Montreal Impact.

Philadelphia was floundering in the Eastern Conference, sitting second from bottom for much of the season.

But the turning point came when Peter Nowak was relieved of his head coaching duties, allowing for interim manager John Hackworth to pick up the pieces.

The Union have won four of their last five league games, three of which have come against Eastern Conference adversaries.

In their most recent outing, the Union came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution thanks to a 90th-minute winner from Jack McInerney. It was the third time in the Hackworth era that Philadelphia has earned three points from a game in which the game-winning goal came in the 90th minute or later.

"Proves our team has fight. It's going to be a fight the rest of the season. Those are the kind of games we need to win," said defender Sheanon Williams. "Those are games maybe in the beginning of the season that maybe didn't go our way and now are starting to fall our way. So we'll take all the points we can get right now."

Philadelphia enters Saturday's clash trailing Montreal in the Eastern Conference table by four points, a misleading position given the fact that the Union hold five games in hand.

But things could be starting to come together for Montreal, which defeated Red Bull New York 3-1 last time out for its third consecutive home victory.

Italian striker Marco Di Vaio opened his MLS scoring account in the win while his defensive compatriot, Alessandro Nesta, made his highly-publicized debut.

"Everything that you see in him is that he is real," Impact head coach Jesse Marsch said of Nesta. "The way he sees plays to the way he talks to his teammates. His leadership and the knowledge of what it takes to win will help this team. He showed as the game went on that he was getting stronger."

Saturday's tilt is the second meeting of the two clubs this season. Philadelphia won the first contest on July 14 by a score of 2-1 with all three goals coming in the final eight minutes.