New England Revolution sealed home advantage in the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs with a comfortable 3-1 win over New York City on the final day of the regular season at Yankee Stadium.

The visitors knew that they would be guaranteed a spot in the post-season with a point, and they made the perfect start when Charlie Davies held off his marker to knock a reverse ball back across goal for Lee Nguyen to sweep home his seventh of the season in just the second minute.

NYC, who were already eliminated from the playoff race, looked shellshocked and nearly fell further six minutes later behind when Teal Bunbury eased through the backline before firing over the bar.

The hosts had their first chance when top scorer David Villa backheeled for Thomas McNamara but the midfielder could only slice wide, before Frank Lampard should have done better with a shot from close range.

Chris Wingert had two fine headed chances for Jason Kreis's side, first when he headed down into the ground and over from six yards before Bobby Shuttleworth kept out his low effort, but immediately after that second opportunity Revs went down the other end and doubled their lead.

Davies again shrugged off a City defender with ease before sliding a low shot across the goalkeeper and in off the far post from a tight angle to extend the advantage and all but seal the visitors' progression.

Lampard was unlucky not to halve the deficit when he rattled the crossbar with a fierce drive and Andre Pirlo saw a free kick saved by Shuttleworth as the home side continued to search for a route back into the match, but it was game over 10 minutes after the restart.

Kelyn Rowe met Chris Tierney's whipped corner to glance home a third New England goal of the night, and though Villa netted his 18th of the season from the penalty spot in injury time to reduce the arrears, the away side had done more than enough to progress to the post-season with their first win in five matches.