FOXBOROUGH (AP) - Dimirty Imbongo scored in the 53rd minute and the New England Revolution ended their winless streak at 10 matches with a 2-0 win over the Columbus Crew on Wednesday.
Imbongo, who got a rare start after Jerry Bengtson was called up with the Honduran national team, slid one into an open net after a Diego Fagundez shot smacked the right post.
The Revolution (7-14-7) were handed an insurance goal in the 74th when Crew defender Chad Marshall inadvertently nodded it into his own net.
After the offense went silent in a scoreless draw with Philadelphia on Saturday, the Revolution wasted little time finding its rhythm against Columbus (12-9-6).
Matt Reis, who made a pair of acrobatic saves seconds apart from each other in the 86th, stopped a total of three shots to preserve the Revolution's first victory since July 8th.
During the opening minutes of the first half, Imbongo, Kevin Alston and Diego Fagundez all fired shots at Crew goalie Andy Greuenebaum, who had to make a slew of saves to keep the scoreboard unblemished.
The Revolution nearly stole one before halftime when Alston took a shot inside the area that deflected off Crew defender Sebastian Miranda and nearly slipped through before Gruenebaum made a fingertip save to keep it out.
New England kept the pressure on the Columbus defense in the 52nd minute when Lee Nguyen collected a poor clearance near the box and burst through the back line. But the midfielder's shot whistled over the woodwork.
A minute later, the hosts finally cracked the scoreboard when Imbongo crashed the area, grabbed a long touch from Fagundez and hit into an open net.
In the 74th, the Revolution widened the margin when Marshall misplayed a back pass over Gruenebaum before it fell into his own net.