Bridgeview, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Montreal Impact eye a third successive victory on Saturday when the club hits the road to face the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park.
The Impact started the season on a five-game winless run, but the club has turned things around with back-to-back victories at home.
Montreal's latest triumph was a 2-1 win over FC Dallas that saw Ignacio Piatti score the opening goal in the 25th minute before he set up a goal early in the second half for Jack McInerney.
The goal was the second of the season for McInerney and it was particularly satisfying for the former Philadelphia Union forward, who has come under some criticism recently for his lack of production.
Impact head coach Frank Klopas knows the struggles his forward has had to endure, and he was particularly pleased with the work rate that McInerney put forth in the win.
"The thing that I was happy [about], besides the goal, as a forward, is that he worked extremely hard off the ball," Klopas said. "That's the one thing that he's got to continue to do, especially in games when you're not going to get many opportunities to score goals, but he's got to be a positive guy for the team in many ways. Today, he was very positive."
If McInerney is able to form an effective partnership with Piatti, which he did against FCD, the Impact may continue to collect wins and begin to make their way up the standings in the Eastern Conference.
Saturday's match in Chicago will give Montreal a chance at claiming its first away win of the campaign, while the Impact will be attempting to become the first road team to win a game in the series with the Fire, which spans eight previous meetings.
Chicago enters the match on a four-game winless run, but the club will still be feeling confident after rallying for a 2-2 draw against the Columbus Crew last time out.
The Fire fell behind 2-0 in the match, but second-half substitutes David Accam and Jason Johnson rescued a point with goals off the bench.
Despite the deficit, Chicago head coach Frank Yallop always felt as though his side had the potential to get something from the game, and he feels his team needs to begin getting some of the results they deserve.
"I think we're feeling pretty good," Yallop said of his team's current frame of mind. "I still felt in the Columbus game, we looked like we were going to tie it and deserved to tie it. We're in a decent place right now, we've just got to get more points than the actual record shows."
Saturday's match marks the first of three contests in eight days for Yallp's team, with all three coming against Eastern Conference opposition, which gives the Fire a chance to move up the table a bit, where Yallop feels they belong.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.