Revs Roll On With Win Over Quakes

• Boston Herald, Monday, August 31, 2009 3:30 PM

The New England Revolution was happy to see the halftime break on Saturday during a windy and rainy game against the San Jose Earthquakes in Santa Clara. If not for the Earthquakes' squandered chances, the Revolution would have gone behind in the first half. "(Coach Steve Nicol) just tried to calm us and get us together," Revolution midfielder Wells Thompson said. "We weren't down at half. The game wasn't over. We had another half to go out and give it to them. That's what we did."

In the second half, the Revolution connected passes and stymied San Jose's Arturo Alvarez, who caused problems in the first half. After Nichol moved Shalrie Joseph from his midfield position up to striker to play as a target man, Steve Ralston corralled a Joseph flick on and chipped the onrushing Joe Cannon for his team-leading seventh goal. Six minutes later, Ralston started the play to double the lead when he played Thompson into space on the right wing. Thompson ran at Earthquakes defender Ramiro Corrales and curled a left-footed shot inside the far post. "[Thompson's] always saying he can kick with his left leg, so I guess we have to believe him now," Nicol said.

Ramon Sanchez's stoppage-time header grabbed the Quakes a consolation goal moments before the final whistle, but it wasn't enough to stop the Revs (9-6-6, 33 pts.) from their first three-match winning streak in MLS play since May 11-24, 2008. The win also vaulted the Revs into third place in the Eastern Conference ahead of next Saturday's visit by the Kansas City Wizards.

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