FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – After losing five straight games and being outscored 13-4 during that time, the New England Revolution did not need a perfect game on Saturday night against NYCFC – they needed a result.
After withstanding a pair of chances in the opening three minutes from Patrick Mullins and Angelino, the Revs found themselves in an unfamiliar situation as of late – in front. Lee Nguyen’s third goal of the season in the 12th minute stood up in the 1-0 victory to improve to 7-9-6 on the season.
“It was ugly at times, but we all stuck with it,” said forward Charlie Davies, who hit the crossbar in the 70th minute. “I thought we were pretty good tactically and we got the job done.”
There were plenty of changes, the most notable being Brad Knighton taking over between the woodwork after Bobby Shuttleworth suffered a concussion in practice this week.
Knighton, who was making his first start since a 4-2 loss to Sporting KC on May 20, was playing behind a new backline because of the red-card suspension to Jose Goncalves from last Saturday’s 4-1 loss to New York Red Bulls. Jeremy Hall was inserted at right back and London Woodberry shifted from right to center back.
Knighton made three saves in his first shutout since July 6, 2013, when he was playing for Vancouver. While he was not particularly busy for much of the night, he was thrust into the action immediately as David Villa gave Thomas McNamara room on the left with a back heel pass and McNamara’s cross found the head of Mullins, requiring Knighton to go down to his left for the save.
“I don’t think it tested him too much, but it was a good feeling to make sure he had the ball in his hands and the crowd was behind him, and that’s a good feeling,” said Revolution coach Jay Heaps of Knighton's save.
It also prevented New England from conceding in the opening 10 minutes for a third straight game.
“We’ve gone done early in the first part of the game in a handful of games and for us to get that early goal and get that confidence in us was huge tonight,” said Knighton.
