Revolution beat Montreal 3-2 for fifth road victory

The New England Revolution are enjoying their finest stretch of an unbalanced schedule in an unprecedented season.

The Revs applied pressure tactics from the onset but struggled to outlast the Montreal Impact 3-2 on Wednesday night at Red Bulls Arena in Harrison, N.J.

The Revolution improved to 7-4-7 and 4-1-2 in their last seven games to move into third place in the MLS Eastern Division with five games remaining. The Revolution, who recorded their fifth road victory, are 3-1-0 against Montreal.

“We are going to take three points on the road any day,” said Revolution sporting director and head coach Bruce Arena. “I think in large segments of the game we played well but we had some sloppy moments and we need to get better.

“To continue to grow as a team and become a better team games like tonight we must be more decisive in our win. Teams don’t win that many games on the road so we have done well in that regard.”

Arena made eight personnel changes to the starting 11 that beat New York City FC 2-1 on Sunday night at Yankee Stadium. The Revs were playing their fourth game in 11 days and Arena used the neutral site as an opportunity to rest his regulars.

Striker Adam Buksa found himself back into the starting lineup and responded with a goal, an assist and a yellow card in a complete game performance.

“Every guy on the roster deserves to play and we train really well, there is no second team,” said Buksa. “We are all responsible for the results and many of the guys got a chance to show what they can do and we managed to win the game against a tough opponent.

“This is important for the rest of the season because the schedule is crazy and we need to have a deep roster. But at the end of the day we got three points and that’s want we came here for.

Montreal keeper James Pantemis was making his first MLS start and the Revolution went to work on him early. The Revs unrelenting pressure produced a two on one break and a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute.

Buksa won a footrace to the ball on the right side of the box and closed on Pantemis. Buksa drew the goalie before making an unselfish pass to forward Kekuta Manneh, who redirected the ball for his first of the season.

The Revs went up 2-0 on a set piece instigated by Diego Fagundez from the right corner in the 20th minute. Fagundez dropped the ball back to Alex Büttner, who lofted a high rise inside the box. Forward Teal Bunbury got under the ball and headed it by Pantemis for his team high sixth of the season.

“We were talking about that before if we had a chance to take a short corner,” said Büttner. “Diego got me the ball and I saw Teal running inside so I got the ball to him and we scored.”

Montreal retaliated with a goal to make it 2-1 in the 27th minute. Romell Quioto broke through the box from the right flank as Amar Sejdič found a seam in the middle of the Revs’ defense. Sejdič took the pass and made a decisive kick that beat keeper Matt Turner for his second of the season.

The Revs went up 3-1 on an outstanding individual effort by Buksa in the 52nd minute. Buksa got a step on Montreal center back Rudy Camacho on a breakout pass from Fagundez. Buksa muscled Joel Waterman and Pantemis off the ball and kicked it home for his fourth. Montreal forward Ballou Tabla scored in the 92nd minute.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2SVfsPP