No record is safe when Vancouver Whitecaps FC are in town.
After ending LA Galaxy's long unbeaten home record three weeks ago, the 'Caps headed to Gillette Stadium on Saturday to face a New England Revolution side that hadn't lost in their previous 17 regular season home matches.
The ‘Caps became streak breakers once again, with a 2-1 victory that saw them set two club records of their own. The win was Vancouver's sixth road win of the season and also the first time that the club has won three straight away matches in their MLS era.
Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson was obviously delighted with the three points, but despite moving back into sole leadership in the Western Conference standings, and their recent road form, he wasn't getting too carried away.
“We know we've got a lot to learn,” Robinson told media after the game. “We know we've got a lot to progress. Every game in this league is difficult. We've had three very difficult away games. We need a little bit of time to recover and recuperate. I'm proud of the guys tonight because not many teams do come here and win.”
“They came out of the traps guns blazing, so we had to weather the storm, but at certain times, especially in the first half, we were very clever and very dynamic in our attacking play and obviously managed to get a couple of goals, which helped us win the game.”
After weathering some intense New England pressure in the opening stages, Vancouver's counter-attacking road play proved effective once more, with Cristian Techera firing home an 18th-minute opener. When Octavio Rivero added a second from the spot 13 minutes later, the 'Caps were looking comfortable.
New England had gone down to 10 men at the penalty incident, when Andrew Farrell sent Techera tumbling in the box. Having played 80 minutes with a man advantage on the road against the New York Red Bulls last weekend and struggling, the second half started to feel a bit like déjà vu for Vancouver as they failed to take their chances and the Revolution pulled a goal back with six minutes remaining.
“That happens because you have young players,” Robinson said. “You've got to have calmness. You've got to have that decision making process in your mind come the final third and we had that today. We [had chances], we just couldn't take a chance. We made it a little bit more interesting than we needed to.”
Goalkeeper David Ousted once again proved to be the key player for Vancouver early on, coming up with some big saves with the game still scoreless to set the 'Caps on their way. He then came up with a number of second-half saves to preserve the win.
“That what I pay my goalkeeper for,” Robinson said. “It's to make big saves. That's what he's in the team to do. We're lucky we've got him. He's a fantastic ‘keeper. He's a presence. He comes up with big saves at big times. You need to do that, and David did that today for us.”
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