A pair of clubs whose seasons are going in complete opposite directions will meet on Saturday when the Montreal Impact host the New England Revolution at Stade Saputo.
The league-leading Revolution have been absolutely flying as of late, winners of five straight and unbeaten in seven in a row. Their latest triumph came last week in a 2-1 victory over East rivals D.C. United.
Rookie Patrick Mullins opened the scoring for the Revs in the 55th minute as he pounced on a rebound following a strike from Diego Fagundez and fired home the rebound for his fourth tally in as many games.
United drew level in the 73rd minute when Fabian Espindola got on the end of a low cross from Cristian Fernandez and ripped it into the roof of the net past Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.
New England, however, claimed the winner just four minutes later through Fagundez, who ran into the path of a cross from Teal Bunbury and fired it into an empty net to hand the Revs all three points.
The victory also extended the Revs' home unbeaten streak to seven matches dating back to April 12.
Head coach Jay Heaps was thrilled with his team's resolve to find a way to win:
"There are going to be games where you've got to find a way," said Heaps. "Fortunately for us, those last two games, things went our way and bounces went our way. But tonight it just felt like we were going to have to make it happen.
"We knew we weren't going to be given anything -- we had to go take it. I think that's what I'm taking away from the game is that we went out and found a way, and that's what I'm most proud about."
Montreal, meanwhile, is struggling to find any level of consistency having lost three straight in league play.
Last time out, the Impact little answer for the Colorado Rapids and fell, 4-1, at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
Dillon Powers gave the Rapids the lead with a penalty conversion after just five minutes and Kamani Hill doubled the advantage in the 54th minute before Shane O'Neill made it 3-0 four minutes later.
Powers completed his double with six minutes to play. Andreas Romero pulled one back for Montreal two minutes from time, but it was of no consequence as the Rapids claimed the points.
"Other than the penalty, I felt we started well. We possessed the ball and came out strong," said Impact head coach Frank Klopas. "But when the referee is a protagonist in the game, it's never good. My players gave everything tonight."
[SportsNetwork.com]
