FOXBORO – New England captain Carles Gil became the Revs’ career assist leader during Saturday night’s 2-0 victory over New York City FC at Gillette Stadium.
Gil registered his 74thcareer assist for the Revs, breaking the club’s mark set by Steve Ralston. Revs keeper Aljaz Ivacic recorded his third clean sheet of the season.
“(Carles Gil) is obviously one of the best players in the league and as far as a pure chance creator and assist guy, he’s the best guy I’ve coached” said Revolution head coach Caleb Porter. “I have had some good players that produced goals in that spot at the 10.
“But in terms of setup guy, he’s the best guy I’ve coached. He is a great pro and a great guy and you can see how hard he works. He has so much quality and is so humble and he defends.”
The Revolution improved to 3-4-1 with their third win in the last four matches and will begin a three-game road swing at Charlotte FC on April 26. The Revs’ lead the series against NYCFC, 11-10-6.
“I like where we are at but we still have some improvement to make,” said Porter. “We are defending really well and it’s another game where we shut them down and most of what they got was shots from distance.
“I like where we are and I think we are in a good spot, we are in the race now. We are in the hunt but yet we have to stay hungry and keep fighting.”
Porter made one significant alteration to the Starting XI that produced a 1-0 victory at Atlanta United FC on April 12, the Revs’ first road win of the campaign.
Leo Campana replaced Maxi Urruti as the second striker in Porter’s recently implemented 2-5-3 formation. Campana made his return to the pitch for 32 minutes as a substitute at Atlanta after missing the previous three matches with a hamstring injury.
Campana had a scoring opportunity in the fourth minute on the Revs’ first deep probe of the match. Campana got under a long drop in the penalty area but his shot was swatted away by Gotham keeper Matt Reese. Campana had a follow up bid in the 12thminute but his right foot blast from the right half of the box sailed over the crossbar.
The Revs staged a brilliant collaboration that set up striker Ignatius Ganago for an uncontested shot in the middle box. Ganago wheeled and fired the ball directly at Reese, who had no problem making the stop. Ganago buried his head in his hands with frustrated disbelief at the squandered scoring opportunity.
“The goals are coming and I thought we should have scored more than two,” said Porter. “We were efficient, we had 13 shots with seven on frame and most of the chances we created were big chances.
Ganago made amends on a brilliantly executed give and go with Campana that put the Revs up 1-0 in 43rdminute. Ganago took a feed from Campana in the penalty area and drew the attention of two NYCFC defenders. Ganago dropped the ball back to Campana, who fired a shot that deflected off a defender and by Reese for his first of the season.
“I loved the first goal because the two strikers combined,” said Porter. “If those two players and Carles are operating the right way and they are reading each other and attacking the spaces that are open, we’ll be difficult to deal with, especially with our wing backs.
“You have to be honest with those two and that will pull apart the back four. That opens up space for the two strikers and Carles.”
The Revs went up 2-0 on a set piece in the 48thminute that put Gil in the record book. Gil launched a low line drive from the right corner into the teeth of Revolution cage crash. Ganago got to the ball ahead of the rush and kicked it home for his first of the season.
“It was great to get two goals out of the two strikers and hopefully the first of many,” said Porter.
Two Revs players, midfielder Peyton Miller and back Mamadou Fofana, left the game with injuries in the second half.
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