FOXBOROUGH, Mass — Dimitry Imbongo and Saer Sene scored on either side of halftime as the New England Revolution snapped a three-game winless streak on Saturday with a 2-0 win over an undermanned San Jose Earthquakes side at Gillette Stadium.
Sene opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a long-distance shot that found the top-right corner of the net after a sequence he started with his own attempt on goal.
The Frenchman found space outside the San Jose penalty area and tried to curl a shot into the far corner. Quakes goalkeeper Jon Busch was able to punch the shot away, but it went as far as Revolution defender Chris Tierney, who headed the rebound to Lee Nguyen, who touched the ball to Sene in space outside the San Jose penalty area. The tall striker wheeled and fired a rocket for his second goal of the season.
New England put the game out of reach in the 78th minute when Nguyen sent a low cross into the six-yard box that second-half sub Imbongo was able to slide in front of after beating the San Jose backline. The French striker then easily deposited into the net to seal the result.
The hosts had several opportunities to make the margin even larger, but Busch made seven saves, including a spectacular kick-save on a goal-bound attempt by Andrew Farrell in the 34th minute and a point-blank stop on Imbongo at the near post in the 80th.
Missing key offensive players in Chris Wondolowki and Marvin Chávez – both off with their national teams for Gold Cup duty – San Jose failed to mount much of an offensive challenge as their road woes continued in 2013.
Their best chance came in the 76th minute when Shea Salinas was able to dribble by Andrew Farrell in the Revs penalty area and slipped a pass to Adam Jahn at the edge of the six-yard box, but the San Jose forward fluffed the shot and José Gonçalves was able to clear the chance off the line.
But in the end, the Revs’ stingy defense kept its sixth clean sheet of the season.
With the win, New England improve to 6-5-6. They next host Houston on July 13.
San Jose, meanwhile, drop to 3-10-4 after losing their fifth game in their last seven matches. They next host Seattle, also on July 13.
