FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution welcomed a depleted Orlando City SC side to Gillette Stadium on Saturday night and pounced on their prey for a 3-0 victory, sealing their fourth straight win.
Without the services of their top two goal-scorers, Kaká and Cyle Larin, Orlando City looked and played like an overmatched team for much of the game.
New England played without Jermaine Jones, who is on duty with the US national team. But they still managed to maintain 55.5 percent of the first half possession and put heavy pressure on Orlando City's backline.
After many missed opportunities, the Revs finally broke through in the 42nd minute, thanks to some nice work along the left side between Charlie Davies and Lee Nguyen.
After Davies chested down a long-ball to him, Nguyen chipped a pass into the box, finding the streaking Diego Fagundez. The latter then took the ball down with his right foot and shot with his left within the six-yard box, going far post to beat Tally Hall for the 1-0 lead.
Hall came up with a beauty in the 56th minute as New England danced around the box with the ball ultimately landing at the feet of Chris Tierney, who blasted a shot. It sent the Orlando City 'keeper the wrong way, but not before he got a boot on the ball to deflect it away.
Orlando’s offense still couldn't muster much to back Hall’s five-save performance. The Revs, who had 21 shots on the night, eight on goal, struck again in the 84th minute to put things away, with Teal Bunbury sliding a pass across the six, finding Juan Agudelo all alone at the far post to extend the lead to two.
Tierney added a cherry on top in stoppage time, set up by a slick backheel pass from Nguyen, who had three assists on thie night.
It was the third straight shutout for New England, who currently enjoy a six-game unbeaten run with a record of 5-0-1.
Both teams return to play next Sunday, with the Revs heading north of the border to face Toronto FC (5 pm ET; ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/WatchESPN), while Orlando City return to the Citrus Bowl to square off with Sporting Kansas City (7 pm ET; FOX Sports 1/FOX Deportes/FOX Sports GO).
