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 night.
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.
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.
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).
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.
