FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution extended their unbeaten run to four games (3-0-1) with a 4-0 win over the Montreal Impact on Friday night, picking up another crucial three points at Gillette Stadium.
While the victory helped the Revs continue to climb the standings in the Eastern Conference, there was more beneath the surface of their triumph over the Impact.
It marked New England’s second straight clean sheet, after the Revs also shut out the Houston Dynamo on the road last weekend. Another similarity between the Impact and Dynamo matches is that both of those opponents went down to 10 men early in the first half, and New England understood that although these are not typically common occurrences, they had to capitalize.
“It’s been a project of ours since last year to get more shutouts and get better performances on defense,” said Andrew Farrell, who scored his first MLS goal in the win over the Impact. “Obviously you don’t expect to go up a man in back-to-back games, but I think there’s progress shown from last game to this game, so we’ve just got to keep moving forward in that aspect.”
The progression in the two shutouts was seen in a positive light by many teammates. Matt Turner earned his first MLS clean sheet against Houston, and repeated the result against Montreal.
“(Tonight) was good. It was less work for me (and a) different challenge to get the clean sheet this game,” said Turner. “Last game I was pretty busy. This one I needed to stay focused for 90 minutes since we were up a guy and keep everybody organized so that we could stay disciplined and get the clean sheet.”
Back-to-back shutouts are not an easy feat, and also one that the Revs hadn’t accomplished since last September. As the Revs continue to buy into head coach Brad Friedel’s new philosophies, they’re playing as a unit and know that their efforts come from everyone on the roster.
“It’s huge (finishing with a clean sheet). Defensively it’s not just the back four, but Turner’s been unbelievable,” said Teal Bunbury, who scored the game-winning goal on Friday night. “I think the midfielders, the front runners, I think we’re all working together and that’s important. We need a good goal differential as early as we can. It’s happened many a times when it comes down to the end of the season and you need goals and clean sheets so its really important.”
While it is still early in the season, back-to-back shutouts give the Revs a sense of optimism as they move forward this season.
