Revs hope to carry momentum onward
"We really thought this was the start of our end-of-season run," said Mariner, who sat in for the suspended Steve Nicol after Nicol was sent off in last Sunday's 4-2 loss at D.C. United, after the contest. "We really need to start our season off again."
With the victory and the Columbus Crew's loss in Kansas City, the Revolution moved to the brink of having assured a place in the MLS Cup Playoffs, which they will have after the weekend if the Colorado Rapids fail to defeat Chivas USA.
New England has struggled to maintain consistent form over the course of the season. Dropped points at home have plagued the team. The Revs have been good for most of the season but have struggled to string together wins consecutively.
Mariner felt that his team needed to alter the pattern, starting against the Hoops.
"We've been winning and losing, winning and losing, and it's not really our pattern," Mariner said. "We wanted to impose ourselves."
The first half progressed according to plan. New England had the better of play and a one-goal lead through Pat Noonan, but a Carlos Ruiz goal pegged the Revs back 10 minutes before halftime.
"We thought we outplayed them in the first half as well," Revolution midfielder Steve Ralston said. "They are very good at set pieces. We gave up too many free kicks, but I thought we did a good job in the first half. It's just that the final passes weren't there."
But New England showed the form it wanted in the second half, scoring three times on its way to comprehensively dismissing the visitors.
"At halftime, we made adjustments," Noonan said. "People kept finding the ball more and finding the holes more with more movement, giving us more options and keeping the ball on the ground."
Noonan scored his second to put the team ahead before Ralston and Khano Smith tallied either side of Ruiz's second to make sure New England sealed the three points.
"The second half was really good, I thought -- one of the better halves we've played in a while," Ralston said.
Ralston and Smith tormented FC Dallas with wide play all night.
"We've worked very, very hard in training this week, emphasizing that we need to get the ball in out wide to Steve [Ralston] and Khano [Smith] and it just seemed like they both did exceptionally well tonight," Mariner said.
Given the struggles Mariner highlighted, Ralston said that he hopes his team can translate the performance into another three points in New York next weekend.
"We have to keep going with this momentum," Ralston said. "We hope to continue next week against New York and do the same thing. We've had some problems with consistency."
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
