• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Dynamo finally beat Revolution

May 3, 2009 - 10:51 PM By PETER GOBIS STATS MLS Correspondent

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (STATS) - Winless through the past six regular-season matches with the New England Revolution, the Houston Dynamo proved to be opportunistic and defensive Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

Stuart Holden and Brian Ching scored goals as the Dynamo defeated the short-handed Revolution 2-0.

"We pride ourselves on possession," said Holden, a fourth-year midfielder who scored his 10th career goal. "We have a strong midfield, we passed the ball around pretty well."

Holden scored his first goal of the season on a 25-yard drive in the 22nd minute which not only eluded the grasp of New England goalkeeper Matt Reis, but the ball squirmed through his legs.

Reis played for the first time since a 1-0 season-opening win over San Jose. He was sidelined with inflammation in his right knee.

"Those kind of things happen," Reis said. "It was a freak kind of play. It's unfortunate that we gave away that goal."

Ching scored his third of the season on a header off a corner kick from the right side by Brad Davis in the 58th minute. It was Houston's first conversion of a corner kick in 26 attempts this season.

Pat Onstad had to make just one save for his third shutout of the season for Houston (2-2-2), which had been 0-3-3 in its previous six regular-season matches with New England (2-2-2).

"We kept the back four pretty tight, we dominated most of the match," Houston defender Geoff Cameron said.

New England's lone shot came on a header by Jeff Larentowicz off a Kenny Mansally corner kick in the 63rd minute. The Revolution totaled just three corner kicks and had precious few minutes in the attacking zone.

New England played without six starters due to injuries, and other than five free kicks by Larentowicz during the first half and a corner kick by Mansally in the 28th minute, the Revolution did not put any pressure on the Dynamo defense and Onstad.

"It has nothing to do with the effort," Revolution coach Steve Nicol said. "It's how to go about things, we have so many young guys playing. We can't get away from the fact that we have a half-team missing."

New England suffered its second straight shutout loss and had its scoring drought extended to 220 minutes, basically due to injuries which have sidelined MLS all-time assist leader Steve Ralston (abductor strain) and the Revolution's all-time goal scorer in Taylor Twellman (neck).

New England was also without defenders Gabriel Badilla (back) and Chris Albright (MCL surgery), as well as midfielder Mauricio Castro (hamstring).

The Revolution lost 6-0 to Real Salt Lake in their last match, the worst defeat in the 14-year history of the franchise. New England was outshot 29-6 - 12-2 on goal - in that game.

"We're still kind of finding ourselves," Larentowicz said. "The only thing that we're consistent in is that we're not playing well."

Houston, which defeated New England for the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cup titles, was winless and scoreless in two matches against the Revolution last season.

"When you're playing against a good solid team, with soccer experience and guys who can hold it (the ball) at midfield, it's tough," said Nicol.

---=

Story from: STATS LLC, http://www.stats.com.