Brad Knighton started in goal for the second straight game for the injured Matt Reis and pick up his first MLS win Photo:Keith Nordstrom

Revolution Soccerballhead 2010 Customized Revolution Jerseys Revolution Travel Hoodie Revolution Adidas 2009 Shorts RevsWrap - 4/4/2009 RevsTV: FCD Preview and More Postgame Quotes: Revolution 2, FC Dallas 1 Game Preview: New England vs. FC Dallas

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Making his 2009 season debut as a halftime substitute after recovering from a right quad strain, Steve Ralston converted an 80th-minute penalty kick to lift the New England Revolution to a 2-1 victory over FC Dallas in the Revolution’s home opener on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.

Forward Kenny Cooper gave the visitors a 1-0 lead with his second goal of the season in the 38th minute, but Sainey Nyassi leveled the score in the 56th minute before Ralston won the match for New England with his penalty kick 10 minutes from time. The come-from-behind win was the Revolution’s first when allowing the first goal since Aug. 25, 2007, when the club earned a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls. New England went 0-8-5 when allowing the first goal last season.

Goalkeeper Brad Knighton – playing in place of injured starter Matt Reis – made nine saves to earn his first career victory in just his second career start. Knighton is now 1-0-1 after playing in the Revolution’s 1-1 draw with the Red Bulls last week.

With the win, New England (2-0-1, 7 pts.) remains unbeaten and takes over sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference until at least tomorrow, when the Chicago Fire hosts New York. With seven points from their first three games, the Revs are unbeaten through three matches for just the second time in club history – the other being 2005, when the Revolution was also 2-0-1 after three games en route to an 11-game unbeaten run to start the season (7-0-4).

Attacking opportunities were limited in the first half because of strong wind gusts, which made long passes difficult to control and played havoc with many crossing attempts.

Neither team seriously threatened to score until the 31st minute, when Dallas (0-3-0, 0 pts.) midfielder Dave van den Bergh’s long cross from the left wing found Cooper at the back post. Cooper was unchallenged as he rose for the header, but his effort was straight at Knighton, who was well-positioned.

The chance triggered a stretch of play in which the visitors began to push forward, and they were rewarded with the opening goal from Cooper in the 38th minute. Defender Michael Dello-Russo’s cross from the right wing sailed over the box, but van den Bergh was on the far side to corral the loose ball. The Dutch midfielder steadied himself and sent a sharp, low cross to the near post, where Cooper tapped in from close range.

New England made a tactical switch at halftime in an effort to become more attack-oriented, replacing defender Chris Tierney with Ralston and moving from a 4-4-2 setup to a 3-5-2 alignment. Jay Heaps took over at left back, with rookie Darrius Barnes anchoring the three-man backline in the middle for the first time in his career.

The move paid off just 11 minutes into the second half, when Nyassi struck for the equalizer in the 56th minute with his first goal of the season. Shalrie Joseph’s diagonal pass from the middle of the field set Nyassi free on the right wing, and the 20-year-old Gambian dipped his shoulder to lose his defender before cutting inside and firing a left-footed drive under the crossbar.

The Revs thought they took the lead just one minute later when Kheli Dube beat Dallas goalkeeper Ray Burse with a low shot, but the goal was called off because of a foul by Jeff Larentowicz.

The Revolution’s added pressure finally did pay off in the 80th minute, when Ralston converted a penalty kick after Kheli Dube was pulled down in the box by George John. Ralston’s slow run-up to the ball fooled Burse, who dove the wrong way as Ralston place his shot just inside the right post.

The Revs are off next weekend and won’t return to action until Friday, April 17, when they visit Eastern Conference rival D.C. United at RFK Stadium. The match is set to kick off at 7 p.m. ET, and all of the action will be broadcast live in high definition on ESPN2 HD.

New England Revolution vs. FC Dallas
April 4, 2009 – Foxborough, Mass. (Gillette Stadium)

Scoring Summary:
DAL – Kenny Cooper (Dave van den Bergh) 38
NE – Sainey Nyassi (Shalrie Josesph) 56
NE – Steve Ralston (penalty kick) 80

New England Revolution (4-4-2): Brad Knighton (GK), Chris Tierney (Steve Ralston 46), Jay Heaps, Darrius Barnes, Chris Albright, Wells Thompson, Shalrie Joseph ©, Jeff Larentowicz, Sainey Nyassi, Kenny Mansally, Kheli Dube

Substitutes Not Used: Matt Reis (GK), Argenis Fernandez, Amaechi Igwe, Pat Phelan, Rob Valentino, Michael Videira

STATS: Shots 14; Shots on Goal 7; Saves 9; Corner Kicks 5; Offsides 3; Fouls Committed 12

FC Dallas (4-4-2): Ray Burse (GK), Blake Wagner, George John, Drew Moor, Michael Dello-Russo (Eric Avila 88), Dave van den Bergh, Pablo Ricchetti ©, Dax McCarty, Andre Rocha, David Ferreira, Kenny Cooper (Jeff Cunningham 73)

Substitutes Not Used: Josh Lambo (GK), Bruno Guarda, Peri Marosevic, Aaron Pitchkolan

STATS: Shots 12; Shots on Goal 10; Saves 5; Corner Kicks 5; Offsides 1; Fouls Committed 15

Misconduct Summary:
NE – Jeff Larentowicz (caution) 31
DAL – Andre Rocha (caution) 33
NE – Kenny Mansally (caution) 34
DAL – George John (caution) 79

Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Referee’s Assistants: Adam Wienckowski (SAR), Thomas Supple (JAR)
Fourth Official: Niko Bratsis
Time of Game: 1:53
Weather: Partly cloudy and 45 degrees
Attendance: 11,314

NOTES

• The Revolution is now 9-5-0 all-time in home openers and has won its last three by a combined score of 9-1.
• New England now leads the all-time, regular-season series with FC Dallas, 22-9-1 … the Revs are 11-5-0 at home, including 7-1-0 at Gillette Stadium.
• The Revs are now 13-3-0 against Dallas under head coach Steve Nicol dating back to 2002.
• The win extended New England’s regular-season unbeaten streak against FC Dallas to six games, while the Revs have also beaten the Hoops six straight times at Gillette Stadium … overall, the Revs have won 10 of the last 11 regular-season meetings between the two teams dating back to 2004.
• FC Dallas hasn’t beaten New England since May 20, 2006 (a 4-0 win at Pizza Hut Park) … the Hoops haven’t taken a single point from Foxborough since July 16, 2003 (a 2-1 win).
• The match marked the second-earliest home opener in Revolution history in terms of the date … the only time the Revs played a home match earlier in the calendar year was last season, when they opened the year at Gillette Stadium against Houston (March 29, 2008).
• The Revolution will return to the road for its next two matches (at D.C. United, April 17; at Real Salt Lake, April 25) and won’t play another home match for almost one month … the Revs next home game is on May 3, when they host the Houston Dynamo.
• For the third straight week, New England was missing several key players for the match, including five possible starters … Taylor Twellman (neck pain), Kevin Alston (R hamstring strain), Mauricio Castro (L hamstring strain) and Gabriel Badilla (lower back pain/R achilles tendinitis) were all unavailable because of injury, while goalkeeper Matt Reis (R knee inflammation) didn’t start but was available on the bench.
• Defender Chris Albright made his 2009 debut after recovering from a right ankle injury … the veteran right back was suspended for the season opener in San Jose (March 21), while he missed last week’s match at New York (March 28) with the injury.
• Backup goalkeepers are an undefeated 2-0-2 for the Revolution in the past two years … last season, Doug Warren went 1-0-1 in place of Matt Reis, while Brad Knighton has also gone 1-0-1 in a pair of starts this season.