Serbian forward Ilija Stolica scored his first career MLS goal in his first start, guiding Khano Smith and the New England Revolution to a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo at Gillette Stadium.
Stolica’s goal arrived in the 62nd minute and proved to be the moment of quality needed to separate the sides on a night when scoring chances were scarce at both ends of the field. Houston outshot New England by a 12-11 margin, but the Dynamo only put two of its shots on net, while the Revs found the target three times.
Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis needed to make just two saves to record his second consecutive shutout.
The Revs (6-9-3, 21 pts.) continued their climb up the Eastern Conference standings with the win and are now unbeaten in their last eight games (6-0-2) in all competitions, including four games (3-0-1) in league play. Meanwhile, Houston (5-10-5, 20 pts.) remains winless in its last 10 league games (0-6-4), a club record.
Neither team was particularly sharp in the first half as both sides struggled in possession, but Perovic was active early in his first game since Aug. 4. He almost latched on to Shalrie Joseph’s cutting through ball in the 11th minute, but Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall charged off his line to cut out the danger.
Each side managed six shots – two on target – in the opening 45 minutes, but none of those attempts ever seriously looked like finding the back of the net. Houston’s best chance in the first half came in the 44th minute through Brian Mullan, who freed himself 20 yards from goal but fired his shot over the bar.
The first 15 minutes of the second half looked much like the first, but the crowd was brought to its feet in the 62nd minute when Stolica broke the deadlock with a stunning finish. Sainey Nyassi’s low, hard cross into the middle found Stolica, who used his first touch to turn and his second to lash home a shot inside the left post from 20 yards out.
Smith came inches from doubling the Revolution’s lead in the 75th minute when fantastic buildup play from Stolica and Joseph sent the Bermudian into the left side of the box, but his blast sliced just past the upper corner.
New England Revolution: Matt Reis (GK), Cory Gibbs, Emmanuel Osei, Darrius Barnes, Chris Tierney, Khano Smith (Roberto Linck 84), Pat Phelan, Shalrie Joseph ©, Sainey Nyassi, Marko Perovic (Jason Griffiths 91+), Ilija Stolica (Kenny Mansally 77)
Houston Dynamo: Tally Hall (GK), Brian Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Andrew Hainault, Richard Mulrooney, Lovel Palmer, Anthony Obodai (Cam Weaver 77), Danny Cruz, Corey Ashe (Joseph Ngwenya 46), Brian Mullan, Brian Ching
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