New England Revolution have ended a streak of 10 matches without a win by beating Chicago Fire 2-0 at the Gillette Stadium.
The victory sees New England into sixth place in the MLS Eastern Conference, closing the gap on their opponents to just two points.
The first half was a fairly cagey affair, although the visitors looked the more threatening, with plenty of possession in New England's half.
Chicago came close to opening the scoring in the 17th minute. Gonzalo Segares managed to get his head on Pavel Pardo's free kick, which was swung into the box from the left.
The Costa Rican's header beat Matt Reis in the New England goal, but could not beat the post and the scores remained level.
Dominic Oduro then went close after a surging run into New England's half, but his 30-yard shot drifted wide.
Oduro had another chance to put the visitors in the lead just after the break, but he failed to connect cleanly with a close range header, letting New England off the hook.
New England went ahead in the 69th minute, when Benny Feilhaber's through ball found Kelyn Rowe, who took a touch before nudging the ball past Sean Johnson.
Feilhaber then made it 2-0 four minutes later after a neat one-two with Rowe on the edge of the Chicago area. Running through on goal, Feilhaber confidently swept past Reis to put the game beyond doubt.
Michael Penkman
